Singapore’s EDB earmarks $14.5m for corporate venture program

The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has announced an updated corporate venture program with a fund size of S$20 million (US$14.5 million) for businesses in high-growth sectors, The Business Times reported.

Dubbed Corporate Venture Launchpad 2.0, the program aims to support large corporations to expand into new ventures such as those in sustainability, agritech, fintech, senior living, and the metaverse over the next two years.

This comes after EDB launched its one-year pilot program in May last year, which had a fund size of about US$7.2 million. The pilot saw participation from 13 companies, including big names such as Electrolux, Keppel Land, Singlife, and Sing Fuels.

To date, six firms in the pilot program have successfully launched new ventures and committed at least S$50 million (US$36.2 million) in follow-on investments toward these projects.

With Launchpad 2.0, EDB will invest up to S$1 million (US$724,000) in total for each venture during the program’s two tranches: concept validation and product development. The board is looking to back 20 to 30 projects in the coming two years.

According to Jacqueline Poh, managing director of EDB, corporate ventures will be key to helping companies accelerate and pioneer new innovations for Singapore. The city-state is now home to nearly 80 corporate ventures, a 2x growth since last year.

See also: The Southeast Asia corporate venture capital network graph

Currency converted from Singaporean dollar to US dollar: US$1 = S$1.38.