Thailand-based beverage producer Singha Corporation has formed a $25m corporate venturing vehicle called Singha Ventures that will back startups and venture capital funds, The Nation has reported.
Singha Ventures, which was registered in Hong Kong in mid-2017, will operate as an independent subsidiary of Singha and will not require board approval to make investments.
The fund will target consumer products brands in addition to retail, logistics, enterprise healthcare and renewable energy technology developers and service providers. It will limit its involvement in portfolio companies to sub-25% stakes.
Bhurit Bhirombhakdi, Singha Ventures’ chairman, said the corporate will provide startups with expertise covering human resources, sales and marketing, and research and development in addition to funding.
“Gaining a return on investment from those startups is not our maximum aim, we would like to leverage know-how and technologies from those startups so that we will be to deal better with the disruption of technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics,” he added.
Vorapat Chavananikul, the fund’s managing director, told The Nation that Singha Ventures has already made investments in funds overseen by Indonesia-based company builder Kejora Ventures and Vertex Ventures, the VC firm owned by Singaporean state investment firm Temasek.