This new-old angel fund will invest in young Singapore startups

Photo credit: the yes man.

Those familiar with the Singapore startup scene will know BANSEA, which stands for Business Angel Network South East Asia. They’ve been around since 2001, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a network of angel investors. It wasn’t exactly a fund though. Rather, it was a community for angel investors to talk shop, make deals, and exchange intel on startups that are worth investing in.

Well, BANSEA got more organized lately. It just launched a fund, called BANSEA One, which pools capital from its network to invest in startups from Singapore. It will put US$37,000 into each company. More than that, the initial sum acts as a trigger to attract more angels to pile on their money, says Jose Camacho, CEO of BANSEA. Infocomm Investments, the investment arm of government agency IDA, has also partnered with BANSEA to have the option to co-invest in these startups.

With more dealflow and venture capital firms having entered Southeast Asia, BANSEA found itself needing to organize in order to work better with venture capital firms who invest in seed rounds. By pooling private money into a single entity, BANSEA’s angels can evaluate deals more systematically and more quickly. They can also boost their negotiating power.

BANSEA One hopes to invest in five to 10 startups in the next 12 months. Decisions will be made by the fund’s investment committee.

To be considered for investment by BANSEA One, you’d need a minimum viable product and a solid founding team. You should ideally be incorporated in Singapore, or are planning to do so.

Lately, Infocomm Investments has been in the business of partnering with or investing in startup accelerators like Entrepreneur First, Muru-D, and SPH Plug & Play. It’s a transformation from its earlier incarnation as a more traditional venture capital firm.

Converted from Singapore dollars. US$1 = S$1.35