Daily Briefing: Temasek Holdings aims to grow US footprint; Space-tech startup SpeQtral raises US$1.9m in seed funding

And here are the jobs at Standard Chartered that are safest from its aggressive restructuring.

From DealStreetAsia:

Singapore’s US$200b state investor is gearing up for more deals in the US. 

Temasek Holdings Pte says it’s “underrepresented” in the world’s biggest economy with about 15% of its holdings in that market, and is “comfortable” increasing to more than a fifth, according to John Vaske, Temasek’s joint head of North America. 

The approach to the U.S. will follow the sectors and themes that drive Temasek’s investment strategy — telecommunications, media, technology, life sciences, agriculture, tech-enabled consumer businesses and financial services, he said. Its biggest U.S. holdings — based on filings — include Dell Technologies Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc.

Temasek had $308b (US$226b) in assets under management as of March 2018, based on the latest figures provided by the company.

Read more here.

From DealStreetAsia:

SpeQtral, a Singapore-based space-tech startup, has raised US$1.9m in seed funding. 

According to a statement, the round was led by Space Capital, a US$25m seed-stage venture fund by US-based Space Angels. The other investors that participated include Shasta Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures and SGInnovate. 

Formerly known as S15 Space Systems, SpeQtral is building space-based quantum communication systems at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) located at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The technology aims to enable the next generation of secure communication networks.

Read more here.

From eFinancialcareers: 

Standard Chartered’s aggressive cost cutting is far from over, especially as it aims to cut spending by $700m over the next three years. If you work for Stan Chart in its hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong, you may want to be in a unit that’s growing, not shrinking. 

This includes Standard Chartered’s virtual bank in Hong Kong which has been on a hiring spree and making room for various roles from technologists to strategists. Rates and foreign exchange are also a good option especially after income rose 25% and 20% respectively in Q1 and the recovering wealth management business is also a good start.

Private banking may be a no-go as the bank still remains a small player in the competitive landscape with data suggesting that its Asia-based relationship managers look only after $137m on average in 2018 - the lowest figure for any private bank in the region.

Read more here.