Lightstone Ventures has closed a USUSD50 million fund, Lightstone Singapore, focused on investing in Singapore-based life sciences technologies and companies.
Lightstone has partnered with Limited Partners Temasek, an investment company based in Singapore, and EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, to create Lightstone Singapore, LP with the goal of sourcing, funding, and building Singapore-based life sciences companies.
"The Singapore Government has invested a tremendous amount of resources into the local life sciences ecosystem over the past decade," says LSV General Partner and Team Leader Mike Carusi. "The investment from Temasek and EDBI into the fund is clear affirmation of the opportunity to create and fund stand-alone companies in this space. We believe LSV's contribution in the form of new funding and its early stage investment experience will further develop the vibrant life sciences industry in Singapore."
LSPL Chief Executive Officer Dr. Noonan, says: "To be successful, the fund will need to translate ground-breaking technologies currently resident in the prestigious research institutions across Singapore into commercially viable enterprises. The fund is not only about investing capital, it is about building companies."
Although company creation is expected to be a core element of the fund, the team will consider additional opportunities as well. These could include funding existing later-stage Singapore-based companies or funding projects where the focus is to target the Asia Pacific markets.
Carusi says: "The life sciences industry is now truly global in nature. It is no longer sufficient to be solely focused on a single geographic market. Lightstone's expansion into Asia complements our efforts in both the US and Europe, where the firm has established a legacy of creating and building successful enterprises including Ardian, Twelve, Zeltiq, and FIRE1. With offices in Boston, Menlo Park, Dublin, and now Singapore, we have established a truly global footprint. This reach is a powerful differentiator."
