{"id":898271,"date":"2026-10-29T03:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/898271\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T03:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T03:16:13","slug":"pure-investment-vehicle-smu-backs-startup-ventures-with-us10-million-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/898271\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pure investment vehicle’: SMU backs startup ventures with US$10 million fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

[SINGAPORE] Selected startup finalists of the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) organised by the Singapore Management University (SMU) can access a US$10 million fund to pilot and scale their ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Urban SustaInnovator (USI) Fund, as it is called, was launched in May 2025 by the SMU Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (IIE), an institute that offers companies training programmes, an equity-free incubator and networking opportunities.<\/p>\n

The fund will be disbursed over multiple years, with up to US$250,000 allocated to each eligible startup.<\/p>\n

It complements SMU\u2019s USI accelerator programme, a post-competition pathway launched in 2025 and offered to selected LKYGBPC finalists to support their market access, pilot projects and strategic introductions in Asia, said Rony Palathinkal, the head of the LKYGBPC and USI at SMU IIE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional venture capital investments, the fund acts as a \u201cpure investment vehicle\u201d where deep-tech startups do not face time pressure imposed by venture capital companies, he told The Business Times in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor startups, it\u2019s much more attractive than traditional venture capital, which could be looking at a limited time frame for when they want an exit. We don\u2019t have that, we (allow them) to scale, and (this) will provide that learning opportunity,\u201d he noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Business Times turns 50<\/p>\n

Five decades of milestones and moments that shaped Singapore\u2019s success story – told through our headlines.<\/p>\n

Explore BT50\u00bb<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

LKYGBPC is one of Asia\u2019s most globally representative deep-tech startup competitions, spanning 12 focus areas including climate tech, energy, food and land use, urban mobility, longevity and health tech, and sustainable materials and circularity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Competition finalists may continue to the nine-month accelerator programme, under which companies gain exposure to an ecosystem of investors, mentors and corporates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To date, 10 pilots have been launched through the programme\u2019s introductions, with 50 other potential pilots and contracts in talks.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO<\/p>\n

\"Lenovo\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

One such pilot is by Malaysia-based food security startup Qarbotech.<\/p>\n

Through talks with family offices, the company gained access to a large pilot \u2013 a sugar-cane plant \u2013 in the Philippines. Qarbotech was a finalist in the 12th edition of the LKYGBPC, and a member of the inaugural cohort of the USI accelerator.<\/p>\n

The 13th edition of the LKYGBPC was announced at the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology on Wednesday (Oct 28).<\/p>\n

Singapore as a launch pad<\/p>\n

Palathinkal noted that Singapore acts as the ideal \u201cnode\u201d for companies to scale their businesses regionally and globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStartups coming from US, China and so on, when they apply, there is an interest for them to look at Singapore as a point of entry to scale, whichever direction, East or West,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Moreover, due to Singapore\u2019s leading regulatory standards, seeking out government partners within the ecosystem enables companies to access most regional economies, he added, citing the Building and Construction Authority\u2019s Green Mark certification scheme as an example.<\/p>\n

Building on Singapore\u2019s position as a base for regional expansion, SMU further enables startups to scale quickly, with its overseas centres in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China.<\/p>\n

\u201cSMU created LKYGBPC as a platform to help founders bring their innovative ideas to life by connecting them with the partners, markets and opportunities needed to turn innovation into real-world impact,\u201d said Palathinkal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[SINGAPORE] Selected startup finalists of the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) organised by the Singapore…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28,158,78404,26785,1166],"class_list":["post-898271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-smu","tag-startup-funding","tag-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}