2022

The Business Times

THE Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) on Tuesday (Sep 6) announced initiatives to help innovators manage their intellectual property (IP) through free legal advice, patent drafting services, training and other resources.

“Startups are hothouses for new ideas that could be brought to market, but may lack the expertise to identify and effectively exploit their innovations through IP,” said Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong during an opening address at IP Week 2022, a global IP event held in Singapore.

The 12 accelerators and incubators in the programme’s first phase include the Action Community for Entrepreneurship, Origgin Ventures and Quest Ventures.

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The Astana Times

“Singapore and Kazakhstan share excellent bilateral ties at the highest levels, and we look forward to closer bilateral collaboration. We also shared a common perspective on the importance of inter-faith and inter-religious harmony in our societies. Singapore and Kazakhstan will commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year. I look forward to hosting Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on a state visit in the future,” wrote President Halima Yacoub on her official Facebook page following the meeting.

Digital transformation is another promising area for Kazakhstan and Singapore, which is a hotbed of startup and innovation activities and considered Southeast Asia’s Silicon Valley.

One of the major projects has been the Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator launched in 2020 by Quest Ventures, a top Singaporean venture capital firm, and QazTech Ventures, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Baiterek National Holding to support startups in Kazakhstan and drive the Central Asia innovation ecosystem forward through their comprehensive program and seed funding.

Since its launch in 2020, the program has had three cohorts, with more than 300 applications, 39 projects accepted and 30 of them receiving investments of up to $50,000 at the given moment.

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vc.ru

BILLZ – это инструмент для управления продажами в онлайне, ориентированный на малый и средний бизнес. Сегодня BILLZ охватывает примерно 5-10% рынка в своей стране, а в этом году проект вышел на рынок Казахстана. Мы пообщались с одним из основателей Рустамом Хамдамовым и выяснили, почему полезно пройти стартап-школу о YCombinator, зачем становиться резидентом IT Park в Узбекистане и при каких условиях зарубежные фонды готовы инвестировать в стартапы из Центральной Евразии.

Первый фонд, который инвестировал в нас $150 000 – британский Sturgeon Capital. Он работает со стартапами на развивающихся рынках, и мы стали первым стартапом в Узбекистане, в который они инвестировали. Раунд seed нам помог закрыть этот же фонд, предложив еще $150 000, а также сингапурский Quest Ventures, от которого мы получили $500 000. Этот раунд мы закрыли в мае 2022 года, и уже в ноябре планируем открывать следующий.

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The Business Times

SINGAPORE-BASED ZumVet, a startup offering remote pet care services, has raised US$3.7 million in Series A funding led by Quest Ventures and existing investor Pine Venture Partners, and joined by Pentepebble Holdings.

The startup provides remote care, home-based diagnostics and self-administered treatment programmes for pet owners in South-east Asia. It previously secured funding from Purpose Venture Capital and Aetius Capital.

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Tech in Asia

ZumVet, a Singapore-based pet care startup, has secured US$3.7 million in its series A funding round.

The round was jointly led by Quest Ventures and Pine Venture Partners, with participation from Pentepebble Holdings.

Founded in 2019 by Lee and Grace Su, ZumVet previously completed a seven-digit US dollar seed round led by Pine Venture Partners. It also took second place in Tech in Asia’s Startup Arena Pitch Battle 2020.

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The Straits Times

The book features interviews with start-up founders and venture capitalists and stories from Dr Sandhya Sriram, co-founder of Shiok Meats, the first cell-based seafood company in South-east Asia, and Ms Goh Yiping, a former partner at venture capital firm Quest Ventures.

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Commercial Times

國際企業創新與策略發展領導品牌Rainmaking Innovation Taiwan（RMI）與經濟部成立之「亞灣新創園」及新加坡創業行動社群（Action Community for Entrepreneurship, ACE），共同舉辦「臺星新創交流計畫」協助新創拓展國際市場。活動於2022年7月25日舉辦線上簽署MoU儀式，在經濟部陳正祺次長、駐新加坡台北代表處梁國新代表、新加坡駐台北商務辦事處代表葉偉傑先生以及中小企業處處長何晉滄博士及胡貝蒂副處長等人見證下，由資策會副執行長蕭博仁博士、ACE主席陳中及RMI執行長莊劍偉三方簽署並宣布正式啟動臺星新創雙向交流合作。

ACE主席陳中表示：「這項合作將為新加坡與臺灣的新創公司帶來更多商機，加強雙方之間的生意往來，促進跨境合作。新加坡新創公司到臺灣，除了獲得導師服務以及取得創投的機會，臺灣的戰略地位面向龐大市場且擁有許多大型企業，有助新加坡新創加速成長。」

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The Straits Times

In 2016, they set up Hepmil Media as a holding company for their fast-expanding business, which is now also in Malaysia (MGAG) and the Philippines (PGAG).

Last November, the company closed a US$10 million (S$14 million) Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Quest Ventures, Pavilion Capital – a private equity firm under Singapore’s Temasek – and Bent Pixels, the world’s largest gaming lifestyle media platform.

Mr Ang says Hepmil’s content teams in Malaysia and the Philippines have autonomy to publish content. But the same guidelines apply across countries: “No race-related content, no religious content, no sexual content, no violent content,” he says.

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The Ken

The Port of Singapore has held the crown of world’s busiest transshipment port by TEUs since 2020. Singapore’s ambitions go beyond just wearing that coveted crown, however. It wants its shipping industry, a core sector for the city-state’s economy, to be a highly-digitised, global maritime technology startup hub.

And to that effect, it has sunk in effort and money in the last few years. All to address key challenges such as decarbonisation, digitisation, supply-chain resistance that have dogged the industry.

Singapore’s efforts at incubating startups in a rusty old sector has borne some fruit. There are startups such as decarbonisation solutions company Everimpact and crew management platform Greywing up and running in the segment.

But change has been slow to come. According to startups The Ken spoke to, convincing large maritime corporations to adopt these digital solutions has been an uphill task. And the gap between domain expertise and technology hasn’t helped.

For now, there are a bunch of godfathers helping these startups get their ships sailing. PIER71, for instance, connects demand drivers and startups. Marine venture builder ShipsFocus and Singapore-based Quest Ventures also collaborated to launch a S$10 million (US$7.5 million) maritime fund last year.

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TechNode Global

While Quest Ventures does not rule out the possibility of setting up women-focused investment funds, the firm will only consider such a move if it makes sense for its LPs and the investment thesis.

“Investment funds specifically for female entrepreneurs or female-led startups are increasing, but you can also invest in them through a gender-neutral fund,” Quest Ventures Head of Environmental, Social & Governance Michelle Ng told TechNode Global.

According to her, Quest Ventures has always been supportive of female entrepreneurs.

“We are big on diversity and inclusion. More than 36 percent of Quest portfolio companies are led by female founders,” Ng added.

“Quest Ventures will continue supporting and investing in female entrepreneurs. It would be through the ecosystems that we have built and funding support. We have also ensured that our team is diverse, for example, we promoted two female investors earlier in the year. This will help us identify more opportunities for female entrepreneurs and female-oriented solutions,” she added.

Quest Ventures’ Ng’s suggestions to women tech entrepreneurs are straightforward and simple: “Take risks and be confident.”

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