Fostering Greater Risk Tolerance and Strengthening Singapore's Early-stage Venture Ecosystem
Ministry of Trade and IndustrySpeakers
Summary
This question concerns measures to address the overseas relocation of promising entrepreneurs seeking funding and initiatives to strengthen Singapore's early-stage venture ecosystem. Mr Lee Hong Chuang asked how the Government plans to foster greater risk tolerance in funding compared to overseas models. Minister Dr Tan See Leng highlighted existing support under Startup SG programmes, including mentorship, accelerator funding, and equity co-investments via SG Growth Capital. He outlined new Economic Strategy Review measures, including a $1 billion top-up to Startup SG Equity and a $1.5 billion injection into the Anchor Fund for public capital access. Minister Dr Tan See Leng added that the Government is developing spaces in Kampong AI and Punggol Digital District, expanding the Global Innovation Alliance, and enhancing talent and mentorship programmes.
Transcript
91 Mr Lee Hong Chuang asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) in view of Singapore's conservative startup grant framework as compared to Silicon Valley's higher-risk funding models (a) how will the Ministry address the relocation of promising entrepreneurs overseas for greater early-stage funding opportunities; and (b) what initiatives will the Government implement to foster greater risk tolerance and strengthen Singapore's early-stage venture ecosystem.
Dr Tan See Leng: The role of Government is to foster the development of a vibrant startup ecosystem and a business-friendly environment, so entrepreneurs find it compelling to build and grow their companies here. Today, our startup ecosystem is ranked fourth in StartupBlink's 2026 Global Startup Ecosystem Index. We are also home to more than 4,500 tech startups, 500 venture capital firms and 220 incubators and accelerators.
Under the Government's Startup SG umbrella, first-time entrepreneurs are provided with mentorship and startup capital under our Startup SG Founder Programme. We also provide support for incubators, accelerators and venture builders through our Startup SG Accelerator programme to nurture startups.
In addition, Economic Development Board's and Enterprise Singapore's SG Growth Capital (SGGC) co-invest alongside private investors through the Startup SG Equity (SSGE) scheme to crowd in private sector capital for innovative early-stage deep tech startups. SGGC also partners leading venture capital firms to grow local deep tech venture capital investment capabilities and support the growth of local deep tech startups.
The Committee on Entrepreneurship recently announced key measures to boost our startup ecosystem, under our Economic Strategy Review, to expand access to capital, talent, markets and spaces for our startups. This includes a $1 billion top-up to SSGE and an expansion of the scheme to support growth-stage deep tech startups, a $1.5 billion injection to the Anchor Fund to help startups access public capital markets, new spaces for startups to grow in Kampong AI and Punggol Digital District, expanding our Global Innovation Alliance to open markets for our startups and mentorship and talent programmes to grow our own founders and attract promising ones to Singapore.