Game publisher Garena secures its base in Southeast Asia; gets ready to 'level up'

SINGAPORE (July 23): Singapore stert-ups base themselves in Singapore for a variety of reasons. The usual checklist includes ease of doing business, easy access to growing regional markets and the availability of funding from various investors. For Forrest Li, the China-born and Stanford-educated founder and CEO of game publishing company, Garena, there was another critical reason: his then-girlfriend and now wife, was at Stanford too on a Temasek Holdings scholarship, which entailed her serving a six-year bond in Singapore.

"Her father told me, 'If you don't go to Singapore too, no negotiation'," recalls the 35-year-old Li, first with a mock grimace, followed by a laugh during an interview with Management@Work of The Edge Singapore. Li probably knew he needed to do something of his own while in Singapore, and decided to marry his passion for playing computer games with his entrepreneurial zeal.

In 2007, together with nine friends, Li founded what is known today as Garena. The company helps to publish games and reach out to players in different markets. While Garena does not create games, it provides a service of sorts by hosting the games for the burgeoning online gaming community and helping to sell virtual "add-ons" such as weapons, armour and different "assets" that players pay for with real money, so that they can "level up" in their fantasy world.

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