SINGAPORE, December 13, 2017 – Cocoon Capital announced today that is has been appointed co-investment partner by SGInnovate. SGInnovate is the leading government-led innovation agency in Singapore with a mission to enable ambitious and capable individuals and teams to imagine, start, build, and scale globally-relevant technologies.
SGInnovate is managing a portion of the funds under the SG Equity Scheme, which is a SGD200m (USD 148m) government fund aimed at accelerating the growth of deep tech startups. The investment cap for each startup is SGD4m (USD 3m), and the total value for investments that would be made alongside all appointed co-investors could potentially reach SGD80m (USD 59m) over the next four years.
“Singaporean deep-tech startups are making waves globally and are acting as magnets for both talent and ideas. Cocoon Capital is committed to help establish Singapore as the innovation capital of Asia and we are very excited to join forces with SGInnovate in this national endeavour,” said William Klippgen, Managing Partner, Cocoon Capital.
In a press release announcing the appointment, Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate, said: “Deep technology startups typically have a longer roadmap for development and commercialisation, and this may discourage some private sector VCs whose LPs expect shorter-term returns. These highly qualified VCs have committed to be active investors in early-stage deep tech startups founded in Singapore, and we look forward to working with all of them.”
Launched in 2016, Cocoon Capital is a SGD10m Singapore-based venture firm founded by Managing Partners Michael Blakey and Will Klippgen. The fund targets seed-stage startups within B2B deep tech, SaaS, fintech and ecommerce with a target of only 6 investments per year. The venture firm has existing partnerships with AWS, Amadeus Next, Lime Agency and Martin Roll Company.