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SPRING Singapore invested 20m SGD in 69 startups last year
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SPRING Singapore invested a total of S$20.05 million in 69 startups in 2010.
This compares with S$25.74 million invested in 98 startups in 2009.
SPRING Singapore said the investment amount was lower last year because of the economic recovery, which enabled companies to secure private funds.
Looking ahead, SPRING Singapore expects the startup scene in Singapore to remain vibrant due to a robust economic outlook.
Info-comm firm PigeonLab is one start-up that received funding from SPRING Singapore in 2010.
The company, co-founded by fresh university graduates Hew Joon Yeng and Lyon Lim, created a software application to facilitate question-and-answer sessions during conferences and dialogue sessions.
PigeonLab received about S$50,000 of grants under the Youth Entrepreneurs Scheme for Startups, or YES! Startups.
The money went into creating the software Pigeonhole, which has been used at more than 25 events in Singapore, Kyoto and Shanghai.
Lyon Lim, co-founder of PigeonLab, said: "We are looking to go global. We want to launch an online, self-serve automated product and platform online. And to do this, we need to get more people in, more programmers in. We also want to expand our sales and marketing team so we can reach out to more people."
He added: "We are looking to expand our user base to 100,000 users at any one time - even internal meetings or annual general meetings or any gatherings where there are audiences and there are speakers."
The YES! Startups Scheme is one of SPRING Singapore's funding schemes for new companies.
SPRING Singapore invested S$1.55 million in 31 YES startups last year.
Looking ahead, it said it will partner more angel investment firms to boost funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Tan Kai Hoe, deputy chief executive of SPRING Singapore, said: "Business angels do not just provide funding, they actually have the expertise in those industries. They are able to guide and help those industries to go forward and grow.
"Going forward, what we hope to do is to identify the correct business angels in the key industries we want to go into. And allow them to help us grow some of the companies in those areas."
SPRING Singapore said it will also encourage startups in some new industries.
"We have invested quite heavily in information technology and info-comm technology companies, and we have invested into some of the manufacturing companies," said Mr Tan.
He added: "We are beginning to move into some of the new or developing industries, like agritechnology and biomedical sciences and so on. This is the correct move because these are the areas...where the funding gap still exists."
Under its Startup Enterprise Development Scheme (SEEDS), SPRING Singapore invested S$10.1 million in 15 SMEs last year. Meanwhile, SPRING Singapore's Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme (TECS) helped 23 startups with an investment of S$8.4 million in 2010.
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