Online VC platform CapBridge raises $4m funding as SGX ups its stake

SGX Centre in downtown Singapore. Photo credit: tang90246 / 123RF.

Singapore’s CapBridge Holdings has raised US$4 million in fresh funding for its online growth capital-raising platform, the company has announced.

The company said the investment came from “seasoned early-stage investors” including Tim Draper. Asian Gateway Investments, a subsidiary of Singapore Exchange (SGX) – which runs the city-state’s bourse – also took part. As a result, SGX will have a 10 percent equity stake in the subsidiary that runs CapBridge’s platform. SGX invested around US$1.5 million in the platform back in 2015.

Nautilus Data Technologies raised a $25m series C round through the CapBridge platform.

CapBridge provides an online “private market” that aims to give accredited investors an easy way of reviewing myriad mid and late-stage startups.

These startups can create an online profile and use the platform to market investment opportunities to selected investors, potentially saving time, money, and effort on misdirected pitches to VCs who aren’t necessarily the right fit for their business.

Last month, Nautilus Data Technologies – a US startup that uses water-cooling tech to run waterborne data centers – raised a US$25 million series C round through the CapBridge platform. Singapore’s Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation was among the participants, investing US$10 million in a round that also attracted backers from Europe and the US.

Earlier this year, CapBridge launched its own fund management vehicle, CapBridge Investment Trust (CIT). The first fund under the trust is its Pre-IPO Fund, which is targeting US$100 million of investments in VC-backed startups that meet certain set criteria for things such as minimum total financing and revenue track record.

Growth capital for all

CapBridge CEO Johnson Chen said that the investment and strategic partnership with SGX will “strengthen ongoing efforts to simplify and equalize the fundraising process between growth companies and potential investors.” The capital raised will go towards the development of new engagement and content-sharing features on the platform.

Mohamed Nasser Ismail, senior vice president at SGX, said that his company’s strategic partnership with CapBridge “syncs well with our broader drive to ensure that every company, at each stage of their growth, has access to capital that is efficient, cost-effective and sustainable.”

This is the latest of a number of deals SGX has struck recently aimed at improving access to growth capital for businesses in Singapore. Back in May, it teamed up with the government’s Infocomm Media Development Authority to work on making it easier for tech companies to IPO in the country. The following month, SGX joined forces with Exploit Technologies – the commercialization arm of the country’s Agency for Science, Technology, and Research – to launch an initiative helping tech startups secure funding and collaboration opportunities.

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from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/capbridge-sgx-4m-funding
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