Early-stage VC firm Trive Ventures has jointly launched a new fund with a Singapore-based family foundation to invest S$100,000 (US$75,600) in the city-state’s entrepreneurs.
Called Tenacious Founders Venture Philanthropy Fund (TFF), the new vehicle aims to be the “short-term bridge” for founders struggling to build a successful business due to shortage in financial resources, said Trive managing partner Christopher Quek.
Trive managing partner Christopher Quek / Photo credit: Trive Ventures
It will be an evergreen venture philanthropy fund that will not take equity in its portfolio firms. Rather, recipients will be issued a redeemable SAFE note (RSN) of up to S$100,000, which they will be encouraged to repay upon being financially positive.
Recipients do not need to guarantee the RSN, according to the statement. As the recipients repay the RSN, the funds will be funneled into the next successful applicant.
The family foundation, which requested to keep its anonymity, will be the sole limited partner to TFF. The fund aims to support up to 10 founders in the next 12 months.
“The goal of this fund is to believe and support such Singapore entrepreneurs to succeed, and for them to [contribute] a positive economic impact to Singapore,” Quek shared.
Trive Ventures invests in data-driven tech startups in Southeast Asia. Since it was founded in 2011, it has supported companies such as Agrimax, Sesto Robotics, Hoow Foods, Park N Parcel, and Coderschool. It also had a prior incubation arm from 2011 to 2019 that assisted 86 startups in obtaining S$3.5 million in government grants.
Editing by September Grace Mahino
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