The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that 380 participating investors who enrolled for the Singapore FinTech Festival’s deal-making platform, MATCH.
Investors have indicated intentions to invest up to a total of US$6.2 billion in ASEAN enterprises next year, and an additional US$6 billion earmarked over the subsequent two years.
A new component in this year’s Festival, MATCH (Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions) is a platform that curates and matches promising next-generation ASEAN enterprises with global private equity and venture capital.
More than 17,000 matches were generated between the 380 participating investors and 840 enterprises. MATCH, powered by Ernst & Young , builds on the success of the Singapore FinTech Festival’s Investor Summit 2017 by expanding the scope of the deal-making platform to sectors beyond FinTech.
Participating investors showed the most interest in start-ups and growth stage enterprises. Around 60% of the intended ASEAN investment allocation for the next year was concentrated in FinTech, healthcare, and medical technology, as well as the information and communications technology sectors.
The capital the investors planned to deploy was higher than the demand for financing from participating ASEAN enterprises.
The matchmaking exercise for enterprises and investors was conducted from May to September 2018. To facilitate deal-making, MAS and EY co-hosted the inaugural Deal Day on 5 October 2018 which saw more than 400 curated meetings to introduce enterprises to prospective investors.
Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director, MAS said,
“The 2018 MATCH exercise demonstrates the upward momentum in both the supply of and demand for growth capital in ASEAN. The interest of the global investment community in our region is promising.
MATCH presents a great opportunity to ensure that private capital is deployed towards the development of promising ASEAN enterprises. MAS is committed to supporting this process.”
Max Loh, Managing Partner, EY ASEAN and Singapore said,
“On the back of fast-growing economies, a digital-savvy young middle-income population and high mobile and internet penetration rates, we see a thriving entrepreneur and startup ecosystem across ASEAN particularly in the technology and FinTech sectors.
Having said that, many SMEs continue to face challenges in seeking access to funding or opportunities to connect with the right investors. Participating investors have told us that they found the Deal Day event useful as it helps them to effectively uncover potential start-ups to invest in.”
The 2018 Singapore FinTech Festival will introduce a new component – the Global Investor Summit – which will be held on 13-14 November 2018.
The Summit is targeted at investors and enterprises, and will feature themes such as capital raising strategies, building businesses across borders, investors’ outlook and India, China and ASEAN leaders’ dialogues.
Feature image credit – Fintech Festival Singapore Facebook Page