2023

Vietcetera

In this interview, Kow Juan Tiang, Executive Director for Southeast Asia at Enterprise Singapore, talks about the economic trends post-pandemic, the role of technology in SEA’s future, sustainable growth initiatives, and the unique opportunities and challenges for businesses in the region. We’re unraveling the collaborative efforts between Vietnam and Singapore, their joint strides toward sustainability, and the exceptional business prospects on the horizon.

In Vietnam, we have witnessed successful partnerships between Singapore and Vietnamese companies following the launch of our Vietnam GIA Acceleration Programme in 2019, in collaboration with Quest Ventures. Sixty-three Singapore-based startups participated in eight cohorts of the Vietnam GIA Acceleration Programme from 2020 to 2023. Since then, 18 Singapore startups have either established a presence in Vietnam or formed collaborations with in-market partners. One notable example is myFirst, a company that develops technology gadgets for children, including wireless earbuds, headphones, smartwatch phones, instant print cameras, and drawing tablets. These products aim to revolutionize how children learn and play through the safe use of technology. After myFirst participated in the sixth cohort of the Vietnam GIA Acceleration Programme, it has established its business in Hanoi and is selling its products in the market through two Vietnamese distributors.

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Tech in Asia

In 2019, Hoang Van Dung lost his right hand after a work-related explosion. Today, the 29-year-old is a TikToker with over 261,000 followers, producing mostly humorous short-form videos that showcase his ability to navigate life with just one hand.

His recovery journey has been strongly tied to Vulcan Augmetics, the Vietnamese startup that built his prosthetic arm.

As one of its earliest users, Hoang has become the marketing face of the company. In one video, he shows off his push-up skills using the prosthetic arm, and in another, he does arm wrestling, though only for fun.

“We do deeptech, the hardware and software, and we’re doing it right here in Vietnam,” Rafael Masters, CEO and co-founder of Vulcan Augmetics, tells Tech in Asia in an interview. “It’s very difficult to get local VC firms to take a look.”

In October, Vulcan raised a seed round from Quest Ventures. The five-year-old startup has ambitions to expand overseas, targeting markets like India and the Middle East. It also aims to go beyond prosthetics and develop wearable technologies.

“Our goal is to be the global leader in body-mounted sensor and control systems, applicable to any wearable device,” he says. “This includes industrial uses like factory exo-suits, medical uses such as remote care, and commercial use cases such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).”

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The Business Times

ANGEL investors are still making fresh bets on early-stage startups across South-east Asia, drawn by opportunities in up-and-coming sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), as well as attractive valuations. This is despite the ongoing “tech winter” where institutional investors have tightened their purse strings.

“Downturns are the best time to angel invest. My best angel investments today were made in the early days of the recovery from the Great Recession,” said James Tan, a longtime angel investor whose post-2008 bets include classifieds platform Carousell Group and proptech startup 99 Group (99.co | Rumah123 | SRX) .

In the current tech winter, Tan is bullish on opportunities in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. He is also looking into climate and sustainability challenges that are addressable by startups.

Tan, who is also managing partner at venture capital firm Quest Ventures, sees other angel investors being active.

“Wealthy individual investors are stepping up. Without the constraints of rigid fund structures, these angel investors are able deploy faster at current attractive valuations,” he said.

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DealStreetAsia

“As more people in Southeast Asia humanise their pets as family members, demand for pet-related products and services will rise,” commented James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, which led a $3.7-million Series A round in Singapore-based petcare startup ZumVet last year.

“Technology will play a crucial role in making petcare business attractive to institutional capital. The humanisation of pets will drive improvements in pet care, increase in adoption of mobile apps for pet services, adoption of telemedicine for pets, and even IoT devices for monitoring and tracking pets,” Quest Ventures’s Tan told DealStreetAsia.

“We generally favour businesses that have the potential for scalability and replicability across cities,” he said.

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Channel NewsAsia

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. As the BRI continues to evolve, opportunities for Singapore remain in the areas of infrastructure expertise and legal services and are emerging in green innovations, green financing sectors. In the next decade, how can Singapore continue to tap on its strengths as a global trading, innovation, financial and legal hub to forge its own paths in the BRI?

“For large businesses, it might seem easier for them to capitalize on the doors that will be opened through the BRI but that’s not to say that opportunities do not exist for small businesses and startups too. Singapore has created a very solid base of entrepreneurs who are willing to take risk and willing to address hard problems and dedicate time and energy to it,” says James Tan, Managing Partner.

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AVCJ

Singapore’s Quest Ventures has confirmed an investment of undisclosed size in Vietnam-based robotic prosthetics start-up Vulcan Augmetics.

Vulcan’s technology spans wearables, biometric sensing, and customizable robotics for upper limb amputations.

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e27

The Science Fund, a Kazakhstan national scientific and technological development institute, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Southeast Asian VC firm Quest Ventures to bolster the country’s startup and innovation ecosystem.

The collaboration will leverage their combined expertise and resources as well as strengthen linkages between the public and private sectors.

The Science Fund will leverage the extensive international network of Quest Ventures for research commercialisation while Quest Ventures will draw from a deep pool of top scientific talent and ideas.

The MOU was signed in Astana between Abdilda Shamenov, Chairman of the Board of the Science Fund, and James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures.

Shamenov said: “With a significant presence in Singapore and across Asia, Quest Ventures brings valuable international experience, best practices and an extensive network that aligns with our key goals of strengthening the local technology commercialisation and venture capital ecosystem.”

Tan added: “As the startup and innovation hub for Central Asia, Kazakhstan has produced many game-changing ideas for the region, and more will come. The Science Fund’s pool of resources is testament to the quality of research and defensibility of businesses that can be created.”

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TaiwanPlus

We spoke to James Tan. He’s the Chairman of ACE Singapore, which is Singapore’s national advocate for the startup ecosystem. He’s also the Managing Partner at Singapore-based Quest Ventures, and he told us how Singapore has successfully fostered its thriving startup ecosystem.

“At the heart of our mission is for ACE Singapore to be an effective conduit, creating greater avenues and channels for local entrepreneurs and founders to thrive and to grow Singapore’s innovation ecosystem. In line with this mandate, we work around five key pillars which are startups, corporations, risk capital, the public sector, and institutes of higher learning. Our overarching goal is to create a fertile culture and environment for entrepreneurs to succeed,” says James Tan.

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AsiaTechDaily

Vietnamese biometric sensor and robotic prosthetics developer Vulcan Augmetics has secured undisclosed seed funding from Singapore-based venture capital firm Quest Ventures.

Vulcan Augmetics specializes in creating customizable modular robotic prosthetics, harnessing the power of proprietary machine-learning software to enhance accessibility and affordability for amputees, particularly in underserved regions across the developing world.

The company’s technology allows users to don these devices in under two minutes, which often involves a time-consuming process spanning six to 18 hours. Vulcan Augmetics effectively reduces fitting times by over 60%, ensuring quicker and more accessible solutions for those in need.

Rafael Masters, Co-Founder and CEO of Vulcan Augmetics spoke to the media during the announcement. “Making assistive technology accessible is a global challenge that will impact two billion people by 2030 and a huge opportunity for us to realize the potential of the disabled community,” he said.

“Vulcan Augmetics is a great example of addressing large and socially impactful issues with capital and technology.” James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, further said, supporting Rafael’s thoughts.

James Tan, the Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, has expressed the venture capital firm’s mission to identify and support pioneering technology companies that operate at the intersection of deep tech and high scalability. Quest Ventures seeks out enterprises with the potential to address substantial and impactful challenges by leveraging capital and technology.

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TechNode Global

Vulcan Augmetics, a Vietnam-based robotic prosthetics firm, has on Monday announced that it has secured seed funding from Singapore-based venture capital firm Quest Ventures.

Vulcan Augmetics said in a statement that the firm envisions broadening its scope beyond prosthetics to encompass the full suite of wearable technologies, from diagnostic and health devices such as Fitbit to augmented reality (AR) and Virtual reality (VR) control systems.

“We are delighted to have received seed funding from Quest Ventures. Together with raiSE, they have demonstrated understanding and empathy for the problem we are solving and the vision to see how our technology can scale,” said Rafael Masters, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vulcan Augmetics. According to him, they have been instrumental in securing early pilot programs.

“Vulcan Augmetics is a great example of addressing large and socially impactful issues with capital and technology,” said James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures.

“We are particularly concerned with ageing populations, and the quality of care that they will have. Affordable and high-performance robotic prosthetics will certainly improve independence, increase the quality of life, and decrease burden on caregivers and society-at-large,” he added.

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