SGX inks deal with IMDA, enabling firms to access capital markets

The two aim to lower access barriers for tech companies.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) signed a memorandum of intent (MOI) to create a streamlined pathway for fast growing IMDA-accredited companies to leverage private and public capital markets in Singapore more efficiently for expansion.

A joint statement by SGX and IMDA said that through this MOI, they will be able to lower the access barriers for technology companies into the capital markets, catalyse more high-tech IPOs and increase Singapore’s attractiveness as a venue for capital raising.

The Accreditation@IMDA (A@IMDA) programme curates and nurtures a growing portfolio of promising, innovative tech companies for high growth. Under the MOI, SGX will partner with A@IMDA to identify and galvanise key parties in the financial ecosystem to support the IMDA-accredited companies in their IPO journey, including facilitating pre-IPO funding, advising them on listing processes and preparing them for IPO listing.

A@IMDA will collaborate with SGX, IPO sponsors, law and audit firms to help lower the information barriers and costs for IMDA-accredited companies in the processes leading to IPO listing. The intention is to better prepare the accredited companies for listing by embedding some of the steps required to become IPO-ready into A@IMDA’s existing accreditation processes. IMDA-accredited companies will thus benefit from more streamlined processes when seeking to raise capital.

"SGX and A@IMDA will foster closer ties and information sharing between the financial and technology communities to enable technology companies and the ecosystem they are in to be better understood and appreciated, and consequently be taken into consideration by investors when valuing such technology companies. These efforts aim to deepen the financial community’s understanding of the technology outlook, potential use cases and business models of these technology companies, and the industries in which they operate," the statement read.