Temasek partners with DBS Group for $500m debt financing platform

Singapore’s Temasek Holdings has announced a tie-up with DBS Group to launch a US$500 million debt financing platform called EvolutionX Debt Capital.

Photo credit: Temasek

EvolutionX Debt Capital will provide non-dilutive financing to growth-stage tech firms across Asia, with a focus on China, India, and Southeast Asia. The platform will invest in sectors such as financial services, consumer, healthcare, education, and industrial development.

Amit Sinha, head of telecommunications for the institutional banking segment at DBS, and Aftab Mathur, director of investment at Temasek, will jointly lead EvolutionX Debt Capital as interim CEOs. A full-time CEO will be appointed in the next few months.

“Apart from helping founder-entrepreneurs avoid dilution of share equity in the company’s initial stages of development, growth debt also serves as a complementary tool to tide these companies, which are often cash strapped, through unexpected market and economic headwinds by extending their cash runway,” said Tan Su Shan, head of institutional banking at DBS.

The partnership aims to offer financial access to companies of all sizes and at every stage of development, handing entrepreneurs the support they need to scale and expand their companies.

See also: The investor’s gambit: Temasek launches its own startups

In April, JPMorgan Chase also teamed up with Temasek and DBS Group to create a blockchain-based platform for payments, trade, and foreign exchange settlement. The platform will have wholesale payment rails that enable instant settlement of payments for various types of financial transactions.

Meanwhile, Temasek also announced a joint venture with the Singapore Exchange in January to set up a digital asset venture focused on capital markets workflows. The JV specializes in existing and emerging asset classes, including funds and sustainable finance.