Singapore

GPCA hosted a member’s discussion on private capital investing in an uncertain environment for the Singapore Quarterly Members Meeting on 27 April, with 60 attendees across GPCA’s membership.

At a nervous point in the cycle, with a “wall of worry” from the banking system to geopolitics, and the impacts of climate change, private capital has many challenges along with opportunities to raise and deploy funds while managing their existing portfolio. Cate Ambrose (CEO, GPCA), Taimur Baig (Managing Director & Chief Economist, DBS Bank) and Claudia Zeisberger (Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Enterprise, INSEAD) led a discussion addressing how investors are thinking about navigating new realities, including higher interest rates, decreased confidence in the banking sector in the US and Europe, scarcity of capital, geopolitical tensions with China, and increasing ESG expectations in Southeast Asia, as well as an emerging focus on “Responsible AI”.

Supported by Singapore Venture and Private Capital Association (SVCA), GPCA hosted a training on co-investments on 17 February 2023 from 3-4 pm SGT at the IFC Office in Singapore.

Co-investments have proven to be a popular and critical component of the private equity landscape.

The training was immediately followed by the Southeast Asia Members Program.

GPCA hosted its first Members-only Meeting of 2023 on 17 February 2023, from 4-5:30 pm SGT at the IFC Office in Singapore.

The interactive discussion leveraged an unparalleled network of senior industry investors, professionals, and sustainability leaders on their views on emerging ESG risks in Southeast Asia.

A 2023 research outlook was presented by Ethan Koh, GPCA’s Asia Research Director, and Yao Hwee Heng, GPCA’s Research Analyst.

GPCA held its final Southeast Asia Members Meeting and Pre-holiday cocktail reception of 2022 on 8 December, featuring an open members’ dialogue. The interactive session with a round-up of 2022 and review of LP priorities was also a timely preview of challenges and opportunities SE Asia investors will face in 2023.

GPCA hosted a special program for members and invited institutional investors on 22 September, 2022 at Marina Bay Sands Singapore, convening more than a hundred GPCA Members and invited guests from the investment community and government.

An institutional investor panel was hosted in partnership with Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), with a focus on Current Trends in Private Capital and the Outlook in 2023.

This was followed by a session discussing the biggest opportunities for private capital in Southeast Asia, led by ​​​​​​GPCA Managing Director Julie Ruvolo.

The meeting was followed by a hundred-person VIP stakeholder reception at the iconic rooftop lounge at CÉ LA VI.

Differentiating Between Impact Investing and ESG 

GPCA hosted the first in-person Southeast Asia Quarterly Members Meeting in more than two years on 14 June 2022 from 4:30 pm – 6 pm SGT.
The roundtable meeting featured a practical discussion on differentiating between impact investments and funds that incorporate ESG as part of the investment process but do not necessarily have impact as a goal.

Speakers include Saima Rehman, Investment Officer, Private Equity Funds Group, IFC; Chayan Dhir, Head of Impact for Financial Services, LeapFrog Investments; Rukmini Bahl, Director, Insitor Partners; and David Steel, Founder and Partner, Triple P Capital.

This interactive roundtable discussion was led by GPCA’s CEO Cate Ambrose. In addition, Ethan Koh, GPCA’s Asia Research Director, presented the latest fundraising and investment trends in Asia.

Best Practices on Diversity & Inclusion

Jennifer Choi (Managing Director for Industry Affairs, ILPA), Shuyin Tang (Partner, Patamar Capital and Co-Founder & CEO, Beacon Fund) and Trinnie So (Director of Compliance & Government & Public Affairs, Asia and APAC rep for Women@Teachers, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan) shared their insights on best practices for Diversity & Inclusion.

GPCA presents the Southeast Asia Startup Directory, which features 192 startups that raised disclosed USD5m+ rounds in 2021. This is a marked increase from 2020, when 106 startups raised disclosed USD5m+ rounds.

This report highlights each company’s disclosed investors, sectors, and financing stages. The report also includes an analysis of the participation of corporate investors and government funding in backing startups, as well as the percentage of capital flowing to women-led startups.

LP Outlook: Committing Capital in Asia 2022

Rebecca Xu, Alicia Gregory, Pamela Fung and Saima Rehman shared an update on how their investment strategies have changed over 2021, and their outlook for 2022.

According to data compiled by GPCA, technology deals accounted for 83% of private capital
deal value across all asset classes in 1H 2021 — inclusive of a broad range of businesses across consumer-focused digital services.

Founded in 2015, Nutrition Technologies‘ mission is to introduce insects into the global food supply chain by harnessing their potential as sustainable commodity ingredients for animal and plant nutrition. 

Founded in 2014, Nium is a leading embedded fintech company that provides banks, payment providers and businesses with access to global payment services via one API.

Founded in 2014, Ruangguru is a leading edtech platform in Indonesia, and growing quickly in Vietnam and Thailand. The firm manages virtual classroom services, online exam platforms, subscription learning videos and private tutoring marketplaces.

Ethan Koh shared insights from GPCA’s Tech Trends Report, presenting the latest trends in Southeast Asia across the edtech, fintech, healthtech and foodtech sectors.

Industry leaders Sanjay Gujral, T.J. Kono, Michael Octoman, and Hoda Abou-Jamra shared their perspectives on how they are implementing the ESG function in their particular context based in the region, and the increasing in-house focus on ESG in private capital.

Sandeep Naik, Sunil Mishra and Stephen Seelbach, Managing Director, Vista Equity Partners discussed how global technology trends are playing out in Southeast Asia, touching on some of the biggest tech bets in their portfolios.

Kai-Niklas Schneider, alongside Fumin Feng and Samantha Mok provided an overview of how GPCA members can engage with the SFIG, with a focus on green finance, sustainability, technology and innovation.