17 venture capital deals raised $205m in Q4

Singapore closed 2017 with $1.2b invested across 112 deals.

Singapore companies made $205m from 17 venture capital (VC) deals in the fourth quarter of 2017, KPMG revealed. The deal value is a 39.6% increase from last quarter and a 57.2% surge from last year.

According to its Venture Pulse report, Singapore closed 2017 with $1.2b invested across 112 deals.

Q2 remains the strongest performing quarter, with $724.3m invested across 33 deals. The tech sector still produces quite a few peaks in VC investments.

If not for Q4's lower volume, KPMG said Singapore had maintained historically healthy tallies by and large.

There were also eight exits in 2017. The exit value of investments reached $1.6b, whilst seven funds raised a total of $732.9m.

Chia Teck Yew, head of financial services advisory, KPMG in Singapore, said 2017 investment and exits showed strong investment appetite and good return-on-investments that continue to fuel the growth of the Singapore ecosystem.

Chia added, "Additionally, more private and seed/Series A corporate VC funds are on the rise in Singapore and many are now ready to make their bets. Along with VCs that are regrouping to focus on Series B to D deals, we can expect deal activity in Singapore to remain robust in 2018."

"Late-stage transactions will also continue, with investors placing larger but safer bets on companies with proven business models and the strongest path to profitability," he said.

KPMG expects Singapore companies to be more aggressive in seeking earlier and larger rounds of funding from the local, US, China and overseas markets.