Nrf gives funding to early stage VCs in singapore

Finally, my complaints have been resolved.

today the national research foundation, or nrf has awarded $60 million to 6 early stage VCs, in hope that they will in turn kick-start the start-up entrepreneurial ecosystem here in singaore.

the VCs have to raise at least 10 million each to enjoy the matching funds from nrf, so in total the pot available to start-ups is 120 million, over 8 - 10 years.

but realistically, entrepreneurs have only 5 years max to try to vie for the VC's funding as in the latter half of the fund life, the VC's will be more interested in liquidating their portfolio.

but out of the 6, only 1 is a biotech VC. Doesn't there need to be more biotech VCs in the pool to help stir up competition to find the best deals, and how does that jive with the amount of funding poured in by nrf, a*star, nus and ntu, collectively? There seems to be a disconnect.

but something is better than nothing.

however, one thing did catch my eye, some of the awardees are outfits i have not heard off, and one does not even have a website. How's that for web 2.0? But at least the nrf did not repeat the debacle that was the original tif funding, which was splash money all around except singapore. At least this time, there's money but nt big enough to get the pretenders into singapore.

i expect the entrepreneurial scene to liven up a bit more with this announcement.


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Sandiwara

The longer the Anwar saga drags out, the "looney tunes" the government is made to look like.

It is as if the entire government machinery is run by a bunch of idiots, from the top to the bottom. Now, it is probably unfair to label every with a broad brush, but the sheer ineptitude of how the case is being handled is ... awesome!

So is he guilty or not? Is RPK's copy of Saiful's medical check accurate or not?

While in all respect, the government cogs are right in saying that the medical examination report should not have been sent out of the hospital as this document is labeled secret (all patients information is labeled as such, FYI), but here, it' not all black and white. Is it not wrong for the person to send it to an "ally" if he or she knows that the report could prove the guilt or innocence of the accused, and that the authorities will move to seal the document forever, or that the due process would be tampered with?

Why is this secret when the newspapers have all reported that Saiful, when checked by the KL Hospital, was indeed sodomized? Why the double standard? THis would lead to more people being confused and sadly for the BN government, that the case against Anwar was fabricated to prevent him from taking office, and to fracture the PR alliance.

So if in the event both reports are true, did Saiful get sodomized on the way to KLH?

No wonder Malaysia is not being mentiond in the same breath as Zimbabwe, the only difference is that in Malaysia, people still have some shred of dignity and are keeping their anger from turning physical, whereas in Zimbabwe, the fear is quite physical. But in essence, both governments are corrupt, and the people are no longer beholden to their promises, lest the uneducated or the brain-washed ones.

Perhaps when Malaysia Day comes, and PR does indeed form a sitting government, Malaysia can move forward for the benefit of all, not just the Malays. But if this continues, in a few years, the Tourism Department can no longer use the slogan "Malaysia.. Truly Asia" as the demographics will clearly show that it will become a mono-racial country.

I like this article!

I had a semi-serious discussion with my 7 year old daughter about a family friend who is doing his in-camp this next 2 weeks as part of his National Service reservist obligation as a Singaporean male.

To kick start the discussion, I had to qualify that I am a Malaysian and our friend, Singaporean, and for the typical Singapore, what is National Service and what is the purpose of his NS obligations years after he has served his full time national service.

"Why did uncle have to go back to become a soldier?", she asked; to which I replied in the event any country were to attack Singapore, they could defend their country.

Then the big question popped: "..and what will we do?"

At a lost of words, I said the first words that came to mind: "We will also fight to defend our home"

Funny, I now consider Singapore home, and would be willing to lay down my life even though I carry a different passport. Why? Because Singapore has given my opportunities that I otherwise would not have gotten had I lived back in my home country, and the only way I can repay the country in times of need to make the ultimate sacrifice (though I doubt very much if the armed forces would want a middle aged man with a broken knee - I would have been downgraded had I been SIngaporean)

And I guess this article lays out the reason why I feel more affinity to this country that my own. Though theoretically a foreigner, I was never question about my loyalty to the country in my previous line of work as they had judged me to be professional enough to make the right decision, without prejudice - period! Whereas, in my home country, I would always have to play second fiddle to the bumis and to the mass bumis, I would always be questioned on whether I am enriching myself or the country (why can't it be both)

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/headlines/42-lead-stories/2180-sold-out-at-the-altar-of-malay-unity

The china allure

And no, i am not talking the women.

i am talking about the busness potential of china. One word: massive!

lately i have been involved in more than 1 china project, suprising as i am a "banana" in all sense of the word (instance: i try to speak mandarin and still flub up by interjecting cantonese words into madarin - that's how badly i suck in speaking the language).

i was with a partner to discuss one project and i finally saw how immense the country is, and how incredibly lucrative that market is. If you thought there are a lot of 7-11's in singapore, there are millions of such provision shops across china!

but at the same time, the go to market strategy for each region is different as there is no one national chain (ie like our cold storage or fairprice) that has coverage across the country. Instead one finds provincial or regional autonomous companies, each with their own chief exec and p&l responsibilities.

from an investment perspective, sad as it may seem, any start-up without a china strategy would be awfully uncompetitive in chasing investor dollar unless there is a clear niche. Perhaps i should qualify that statement as companies targetting mass consumers and not nice b-b or b-prosumer markets.

and what differentiates china from india is that there is a very strong middle-class, thanks to the liberal communist rule over the past 20 or so years since deng xiaopeng opened up the country. For india, its democracy i would say is also its downfall as the country is somehwhat hampered in reforming the country by constant threats of coalition partners jumping ship. But i guess they (the indian government) is playing catch up.

simply amazing!


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Ugly people

And i am not talking about physical appearance.

this happened to me just now. My family and 2 other families decided to have lunch at kuishinbo in suntec as our weekend gathering, and to allow all our kids to hang with each other.

what was a happy event was marred by a small event with a lady and her family. What happened was that both our families (i had 7 in mine) and her (she had 5 incl an elderly lady in a wheelchair) waiting for the lift. When the lift arrived, it was large enough to accomodate both sets of families, if the pram and the wheelchairs were arranged properly.

so my wife asked them to kindly move the wheelchair to one side (instead of being in the center) so that our pram could go in the other half of the lift. This evidently infuriated the lady, and when it was time to get off for them, she shouted rudely "get out!" at her helpers.

i think this show the lady in very poor light, as the lift is a common lift and if it were possible to share it, why not?

i don't know if this lady is singaporean on or not, and i don't think it matters. What matters more is that people need to be more compassionate and respect each other. What this lady has shown is a lack of compassion and repect for us and her helpers (by shouting at them to get "back" at us.

ugly. I think graciousness needs to be a subject to be taught in school since there seems to be a lack of it amongst adults in singapore.


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Corporate social responsibility

This word is plastered in many a corporate websites and annual reports.

however for the case power generation companies (gencos) and oil companies, what does this exactly mean?

many governments, including the mother of all governments (the US if you want to know) have recently hauled up chief execs of these companies to explain why is it that these companies are reaping huge profits, and at the same time consumers are suffering higher pump prices.

so for these comapnies, how much profit can they make before it is too much? Do these companies not have a right to make the profits? In many areas where they operate, there is a co-sharing with the local governments, so the local theoretical should benefit as well, but as in the case of malaysia, it has lead to a series of problems because the government have long subsidized the pricing of gas.

so now it becomes a cruel circle, the oil companies cannot be seen as making too much profits, so they will cut back on oil exploration projects, and only pump from old wells which would make recovery cost more expensive, thus while maintaining some certainty in the pump prices, it would shave off their profit margins. But in the long run, it would lead to even more expensive pump prices.

perhaps the challenge then is to make the consumers less reliant on fossil fuel, as al gore has advocated.


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Entrepreneurs

In my line, i deal with a lot of entrepreneurs with me being one of those aspiring entrepreneurs.

without prejudicing myself, i have come to the conclusion that in my small circle of entrepreneurs that i have come in contact with, a lot tend to overvalue their companies and technologies. Sometimes it's good, but most times it starves the company of needed investment.

because i am both on the buy (entrepreneurs)and sell (investor) side, i see a disconnect between the 2, which makes life interesting and difficult.

how do investor value a company? There are known methods like pe multiples, discounted cash flow etc. Of course there is a premium on technology but you'd be surprised how much (or little) that premium is. Customer orders, unless it's already in hand means zilch in calculating the value of the company. Counting on the future does not manage the risk.

on the other hand, entepreneurs tend of overweigh on the utility of their technology, and also potential customer orders, and thus value their company accordingly. And also some of them hang out for 'name-brand' investors.

sometimes, the gulf isn't too big that it cannot be bridged, and most of the time, it.s not even worth putting in the effort to close the gap.

the reality is that in the land of the have and have-nots, the haves win it, and unfortunately, the investors hold a commodity that the entrepreneurs desire: money, thus relegating entrepreneurs to the have-nots category.

and if you can get an investor interested enough to to listen past the first 10 minutes, the entrepreneur should take any offer or advice being given seriously.

in singapore, both side have a lot to learn though.

n


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Ren ci

I read with dismay the recent revelation on the possble wrong doing of the venerable ming yi and the ren ci organization.

assuming he is convicted of the said wrong doing, and i will be very dissapointed with him, as a buddhist and as a person. As a person belonging to the sangha (or the clothe), he is expected to hold himself higher than the rest of us. This is important because how else then can he impart the dhamma to the rest of the people?

leading by example is key. If me as a layman sees a monk abusing his role as a monk and community leader, then what sort of morals will that imply to me.

sadly he is not the first and neither will he be the last, which is why i believe in monks and people joining any reigious order take a vow of poverty, but even that did not stop joseph kang where a vow of poverty was explict.

does that mean more policing, or forcing all religious trusts and charities to submit to audtng on a yearly basis? While i believe the these people will reap what they sow (karma), i think they should be audited yearly to mantain the public's trust.

to


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Anwar arrested

Is this a prelude to crowd problems in malaysia? Judging from history, the presumptive answer would be yes.

but can malaysia and the surrounding countries afford it? The answer is no.

is this also a prelude to the government suspending the constitution and declare an emergency if they can't put a lid on the public outcry?

i dread the answer.

there's no need to accuse foreign powers of trying to undermine the country, the ruling party is pretty successful in doing that all by themselves.

it is times like this that make you go " LKY was a freakin genius when singapore gained independence!"


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Tough Job Market

I have been sniffing around for possible job openings, and although there have been many "let's do it", but none yet has returned with a firm commitment to hire me.

And if I want to get into the Financial sector, I understand that industry is slowing down rather rapidly due to the tepid markets since the sub-prime blowout, and now sky-high energy prices.

So for the moment, I will continue doing my freelance project with the hopes that at least one or 2 of them will materialize in some sort of monetary rewards.

What a shitty time to be "in between jobs

Conspiracies abound

I read with alarm the latest SD twist afflicting malaysia.

the indian pi who is at the center of the controversy has gone missing with his family. Not unexpected is it?

the internet media is buzzing with the news, and to me, it lend credence that there is a conspiracy behind all this, be it from the government or the pr front.

with such maneuvours, how is one to distill which is the truth when everything is so muddied. How is the country going to drag itself out of the funk? The people, i feel, no longer trusts the government institutions meant to police the government because there is no proper separation in reporting?

come on, we all know the judiaciary is not independent and neither is the aca, and these are the main 2 institutions meant to provide the check and balance.

i salute those still trying to live their lives in malaysia and fight for their principles. I hope soon, makkal sakthi will prevail and justice served to those have wronged and those who have been wronged.


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Malaysian heat is risng

The news headline on the screen shouts: malaysia troops may be used to help with quell the protes, or someting to that effect.

if that occured, it wuld beunprecedented and would relegate malaysia to an iron state.

since the emergency, i can't recall if troops have been used against civlians, and it is thoughti shudder at.

but instead of calming the population down, musa hitam is turningup the heat, which is contrary against convetional wisdom.

the saga continues


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Aiyoh so drame aka malaysian politics

I have come to the realization that watching malaysian politics is much more interesting compared to watching soap operas.

the plot is even more sordid than dynasty or dallas in their peak season.

what will happen next? My worst fear is another may 13, this time it will not be inter-racial but intra-racial.

let's hope cooler heads prevail, but in a country where there is effectively no separation of court and state ie check and balance, determining the truth will be harder than mulder trying to solve the x-files.


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How prophetic - anwar ibrahim

When i wrote this morning about the BN spin meisters turning to singapore to be their whipping boys in the event the tide turns against them vs anwar???

well one of the pkr people just said that a neighboring country is feeding them intelligence about potential assasination attempts on anwar.

well, what more justification do the spin miesters need to start another to keep the pressure off aab amd ntr?

self fulfilling prophecy?? My guess is as good as yours!


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Nitpicking

I caught a glimpse of an ST forum letter that was published over the weekend, where the writer alledge (sp?) that the upcoming circle line does not benefit the western population, because it links to the north-south line at ang mo kio and does not pass through orchard.

i'd say this write is not really objective about the whole matter and is just putting his/her shopping hat on. The line passes buena vista, and will be the main conduit for people travelling to fusionopolis and nuh/nus, and that to me is benefit enough.

if he had travelled through the london tube he will also have noticed that not all lines mirror the circle line, and people live with it. If you happen to live close to the circle line tube stations, lucky you, else transfer like everyone else.

then on the other end of the spectrum is my beloved penang. It can't seem to get out of a funk. Anyone who has been to penang islan will bitch about its public tranport system and the haphazard traffic woes.

a rail system is needed, no doubt about it, and i beg to differ that it does not benefit the people. Yes it does as much research have noted that the cost of doing business increases with traffic jams, and penang need to get its act right to maintain the inward investments. So i don't this there is any choice to this.

but how do you convince the private sector to participate? Definitely not when there is the potential of the federaland state government going to court to resolve jurisdiction. Until there is actual agreements btw the federal and state, i believe that this project is dead.

another sign that patronage driven politics is depriving malaysia of needed development, and pampered singaporean residents will only want public transport if it takes them from their front door to wherever they want to go.

opps that's called a cab!


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Villification of anwar ibrahim

Most of us would have been glued to the various news channels over the weekend after news broke that anwar ibrahim sodomized another guy.

my impression: c'mon guys this is getting old, and soooo uncreative. To the spin doctors of BN, you should employ good screenwriters to do the plot and scripts because its more interesting on the idiot box.

why do i think this is a character and olitical assination? Because:
1. He would done so in prison and word would have leaked out.
2. Since he has been overseas quite often, anyone with half a brain would have done the deed overseas where discretion would be easier to obtain.
3. Why would he have done the deed in KL where everyone recognizes him. Did he not learn from the past experience himself, and that of chua soi lek?

and to this saiful, the world in which we live in is far different from that when anwar was first caught. The internets is far more wide-spread and now, there's alternative news channels, be it they spread the truth or lies (the same could be said of malaysia's traditional news papers and networks)

i see this as a desperate measure to take the pressure off aab and ntr + wife, using the familiar tactic: create anoter fire elsewhere as people like sensationalistic news. Believe me, if thus anwar issue is put out quickly, singapore beware and the spin miester will surely find fault with the country.

silly silly. Wonder why the people of malaysia vote anyways? Might as well vote some actors into parliment.


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