Singapore Fintech Festival lures $8.54b investments for ASEAN enterprises

Investment allocations were concentrated in fintech, healthcare, medical technology, and ICT sectors.

The Singapore Fintech Festival recorded 380 participants in the event’s deal-making platform where investors indicated their intentions to invest up to a total of $8.54b (US$6.2b) for ASEAN enterprises by 2019, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) revealed.

Investors also earmarked an additional $8.26b (US$6b) over the subsequent two years.

A new platform that curates and matches ASEAN enterprises with global private equity and venture capital firms, Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions (MATCH) which is backed by EY enabled more than 17,000 matches between the 380 participating investors and 840 enterprises.

“The interest of the global investment community in our region is promising,” MAS managing director Jacqueline Loh said. “MATCH presents a great opportunity to ensure that private capital is deployed towards the development of promising ASEAN enterprises.”

Based on the outcome, participating investors showed the most interest in start-ups and growth stage enterprises, with around 60% of the intended ASEAN investment allocation for the next year concentrated in FinTech, healthcare, and medical technology, as well as the information and communications technology sectors.

The matchmaking exercise for enterprises and investors was conducted from May to September 2018.