I am impressed by the size of the exits / fundraising by tech startups that are based out of Singapore. Anthony Tan of GrabTaxi (US$340m), Steve Melhuish of Propertyguru (US$130m) and Razmig Hovaghimian of Viki (US$200m) are some non-Singaporean born founders who have done well basing themselves out of Singapore.
However, Singaporean born founders pale in comparison in terms of exits. Some examples like Zopim (US$30m), SgCarMart (US$48m), Hungrygowhere (US$9.4m).
Maybe I have limited information on more successful Singaporean born founders (do shed some light on this). Singapore have their exceptions like Tan Ming Liang of Razor with US$1b valuation, but what are the possible characteristics or ingredients that non-Singapore founders have which makes them more successful in getting the large fund raising? Is it their strength and understanding of their domestic home countries or their visionary viewpoint due to their exposure to many markets?
Another discussion of point is what can Singapore do to build and grow the visionary aspects of Singapore-born founders which will impress investors to give bigger valuations than what is currently being seen?
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