US$50 Million VC Fund To Focus On Singaporean Life Sciences

Lightstone Singapore has closed a US$50 million funding round backed by Singapore’s EDBI and Temasek Holdings.

AsianScientist (Feb. 19, 2016) – Temasek Holdings and EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, have co-invested US$50 million into a venture capital firm focused on life science technologies and companies in the country.

Called Lightstone Singapore, L.P., the firm is a local arm of Lightstone Ventures (LSV), a US-based firm focused on early-stage breakthrough medical device and biopharmaceutical companies.

LSV has also announced the establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary, Lightstone Singapore Pte. Ltd (Company Registration No. 201527262Z) (LSPL), a Singapore-based fund management company consisting of a dedicated team led by former Lightstone Venture Partner Dr. Kenneth D. Noonan, and joined by Investment Associate Dr. Ho Wen Qi.

“To be successful, the fund will need to translate groundbreaking technologies currently resident in the prestigious research institutions across Singapore into commercially viable enterprises. The fund is not only about investing capital, it is about building companies,” said Noonan, CEO of LSPL.

Although company creation is expected to be a core element of the fund, the team will consider additional opportunities as well. These could include funding existing later-stage Singapore-based companies or funding projects where the focus is to target the Asia Pacific markets.

“The Singapore Government has invested a tremendous amount of resources into the local life sciences ecosystem over the past decade,” said LSV general partner and team leader Mr. Mike Carusi. This includes the recently announced S$19 billion (~US$13 billion) budget for the next five years.

“The life sciences industry is now truly global in nature. It is no longer sufficient to be solely focused on a single geographic market. Lightstone’s expansion into Asia complements our efforts in both the US and Europe. This reach is a powerful differentiator,” Carusi concluded.

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Source: EDBI.
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