Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has launched a S$200m ($150m) corporate venturing company led by veteran investor Yvonne Kwek.
The launch is the latest in a string of corporate venturing funds to be launched recently, including a $830m fund by KT Group to invest in Korea’s smartphone industry started in July.
The SingTel Innov8 subsidiary will invest globally in technology companies that improve telecom networks, devices and digital content and in return provide access to its 350 million mobile phone users across Asia Pacific and Africa.
SingTel said Innov8 was part of its change from a traditional telecommunications provider to a multimedia and information and communications provider.
Chua Sock Koong, chief executive of SingTel, said: "The investments made by Innov8 will ensure the SingTel Group continues to stay relevant to customers’ needs and capture growth opportunities. With Innov8, the group will continue to shape the market and deliver sustainable growth into the future.”
Kwek, chief executive of SingTel Innov8, said: "Innov8 will connect with the innovation hotspots of the world for new ideas, technology, products and services. We will invest in and incubate these innovations, and eventually bring them to market."
Kwek was previously chief financial officer of MediaRing from 2001 to 2006. She left just ahead of speculation SingTel would buy a stake in the listed voice-over-internet provider in order to take a break from work before resurfacing as vice president of corporate finance at SingTel.
Previously to MediaRing, she had been managing director of corporate finance in the Internet Technology Group, a dot.com investment vehicle in which sporting goods distribution company Ossia International held a majority stake, and an executive director at Crimson Asia Capital Singapore, a $450m venture capital fund.