Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Siemer & Associates Launches Singapore Incubator
Los Angeles-based Siemer & Associates, and its affiliated venture capital fund, Siemer Ventures, said today that it has launched a new, technology incubator--in the country of Singapore. The investment banking firm, which is headed by David Siemer, said that the new WaveMaker Labs is being formed under the Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS) of the Singaporean government's National Research Foundation (NRF). The deal will provude up to $400,000 of co-investment from the NRF in startups who join the incubator, which is a 5.7x multiplier on any investment made by WaveMaker itself. Siemer explained that, for example, if a startup receives $70,000 from WaveMaker, the NRF will co-invest up to $400,000 in that startup.
Siemer said its efforts in Singapore will be led by Paul Santos and Debneel Mukherjee, both of whom are based in Singapore. The company also said it is working in partnership with business advisory firm Tholons in the effort. Siemer looks to be taking advantage of extremely aggressive efforts by Singapore to attract technology companies, and startups, into the country. Siemer has relationships with a number of local, Los Angeles incubators, including investments in Mike Jones' Science Inc.; however, the move into Singapore is the first by the group to run its own incubation efforts. (Disclaimer: Siemer is a sponsor of socalTECH.com, which does not affect our editorial coverage).