The Li-funded firm, which was co-founded by long time confidante Solina Chau, is the latest among a raft of high-profile investment outlets and family offices that have set up presence in Singapore -- attracted by its low taxes, relative safety and an expedited pathway for permanent residency for the super wealthy.
A number of investors have either left Hong Kong or expanded operations outside the city amid increasingly strict national security laws and Covid-related travel restrictions. Horizons Ventures said none of these factors played a part. Instead its decision was driven by Singapore’s advantages as a regional hub for investors and expansion.
“We have about 23 investments across the region and operating out of this hub actually becomes pretty important because everyone is here,” said Chris Liu, an Adelaide-based portfolio curator for Horizons. “Building a hub out of Singapore and helping our companies create and identify strategic opportunities and partnerships into the South East Asian region makes total sense.”
Liu made the comments on a trip to Singapore with founders from two portfolio companies - health-care AI platform Harrison.ai and Loam Bio - both of which met with Singaporean government agencies and state-owned investors with Horizons’ assistance.
See also: World's 500 largest family enterprises made US$8.02 trillion in revenue over last two years
“Connecting into this region, it makes more sense to be in Singapore than Hong Kong. A lot of our co-investors are in this part of the world rather than in the greater China region,” he said, naming Temasek as an example, adding that Australia was too physically far away from Asia to act as a regional base.
Li, whose early wealth was built on infrastructure, telecommunications and real estate, enjoyed a surge in wealth thanks to high-tech bets in companies like Zoom Video Communications Inc. and Spotify Technology S.A. via Horizons Ventures when the pandemic hit.
In October Horizons’ will host portfolio company founders, co-investors and guests in Singapore for its bi-annual “Techcracker” event.
The firm is speaking with universities and professionals to see what investment and hiring opportunities are available, Liu added. “Well over US$100 million ($139.5 million)” has been deployed across its Australian investments with South East Asia likely to get similar, if not higher, amounts of deals.
