Can family offices help Singapore churn out more unicorns?

SINGAPORE (Nov 4): Can the tiny island republic churn out more unicorns? Christopher Quek of TRi5 Ventures certainly thinks so, believing that the local start-up ecosystem can produce more winners if local business families take an interest in this space.

Singapore currently has four unicorn companies – companies valued above US$1 billion ($1.4 billion) – to its name. These are gaming hardware maker Razer, e-commerce player Lazada, gaming platform Garena and ride-hailing service Grab.

Quek, whose father is a chairman of a locally listed company, hails from such a family, growing up around the who’s who of corporate Singapore. While he does not like to broadcast it, Quek’s family connections were crucial to helping him set up and fund his start-up accelerator TRi5 Venture earlier this year.

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