Daily Briefing: Insurtech startup Singapore Life bags US$7.3m; NTU unveils $40m waste-to-energy research facility

And online marketplace for workspaces GorillaSpace secures undisclosed funding.

From DealStreetAsia:

Life insurance firm Singapore Life secured a US$7.3m investment from Hong Kong-based asset manager Ion Pacific.

Ion Pacific made the investment along with Singapore Life’s original shareholders as part of a series of transactions. It was joined by Aflac and Standard Life Aberdeen in the latest round of funding.

The investment gives Ion an exposure to Southeast Asia’s life insurance market, which is one of the fastest growing in the world.

“Ion Pacific continues to support exceptional businesses and strong founding teams as a part of its mandate to provide creative financing solutions to the global innovation economy,” said Kristaps Ronis, Principal at Ion Pacific.

Read more here.

From Channel NewsAsia:

A $40m waste-to-energy research facility that converts rubbish collected from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) campus into electricity and other by-products was launched on 27 May.

In operation since March this year, the Tuas South facility houses a slagging gasification plant able to heat up to 1,600 degrees Celsius, almost twice that of conventional mass burn incinerators.

The high temperature turns the rubbish transported from NTU into syngas – mostly carbon dioxide and hydrogen – that can be used to produce electricity. The rubbish can also be converted into metal alloy granulates, which can be recycled, and slag, a glass-like material which can potentially be used as construction material.

About 85% of the waste weight will be turned into syngas, 12% into slag and metal alloy, and the remaining 3% into fly ash.

Read more here.

From DealStreetAsia:

GorillaSpace, a Singapore-based online marketplace for workspace, on Monday announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round led by Japanese real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate Co. (MEC).

The round was joined by a consortium of investors that includes Silversea Media Group, according to a statement. GorillaSpace is the first proptech startup outside of Japan to receive funding from MEC, as well as the first seed investment by the developer.

Per a statement, the investment by MEC is part of an initiative to discover new projects and to develop synergy with businesses that are driving tech innovation in the property sector. MEC has committed to invest US$100m (¥10b) in this initiative.

Read more here.