MAS eyes bigger funding landscape for Singapore startups

It is reviewing regulations for venture capital managers.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is now reviewing its regulatory regime for venture capital (VC) managers to grow more VC activity in the efforts to create an innovation village.

In a speech, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said MAS is looking to significantly simplify and shorten the authorisation process for new VC managers.

This is in part of working alongside with the VC industry to grow the funding landscape for start-ups in Singapore and the region.

"...to the extent that there are contractual safeguards to provide sufficient protection to a VC’s sophisticated investor base, MAS is also looking to exempt VC managers frombusiness conduct requirements that are currently applied to asset managers in general," the deputy prime minister said.

He also noted that MAS is studying whether existing incentives for funds and fund managers are suitable to anchor VC funds and VC fund managers in the city-state.

"We recognise that VC funds and fund managers are typically smaller in size and headcount than traditional asset managers. But they contribute in a different way, by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in Singapore and the region," he explained.

MAS will be facilitating a public consultation on its proposals in January next year, and targets to introduce changes by July 2017.

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia