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Lightstone Singapore will look to build and fund startups in the biomedical and medtech segments in the island nation

EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, and Temasek have participated in a US$50 million funding round at Lightstone Singapore LP, a VC firm that aims to fund and build life sciences technology companies in the island nation.

Lightstone Singapore is a unit of US-based Lightstone Ventures (LSV).

“EDBI looks forward to the partnership with Lightstone Ventures to continue growing the biomedical sciences industry. As an active investor in this sector since 2001, Lightstone’s focus on technology commercialisation will complement our investment strategy, and will help strengthen the local biomedical sciences ecosystem,” said CHU Swee Yeok, CEO & President, EDBI.

“The Singapore government has invested a tremendous amount of resources into the local life sciences ecosystem over the past decade,” said LSV General Partner Mike Carusi.

“The investment from Temasek and EDBI into the fund is clear affirmation of the opportunity to create and fund stand-alone companies in this space. We believe LSV’s contribution in the form of new funding and its early-stage investment experience will further develop the vibrant life sciences industry in Singapore,” Carusi added.

LSV has also announced the establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary Lightstone Singapore Pte. Ltd. a fund management company which will be heded by former Lightstone Venture Partner Dr. Kenneth D. Noonan, and joined by Investment Associate Dr. Wen Qi Ho.

It will look to fund existing later-stage Singapore-based companies or funding projects where the focus is to target the Asia Pacific markets.

“The life sciences industry is now truly global in nature. It is no longer sufficient to be solely focused on a single geographic market. Lightstone’s expansion into Asia complements our efforts in both the US and Europe, where the firm has established a legacy of creating and building successful enterprises including Ardian, Twelve, Zeltiq, and FIRE1,” added Carusi.

LSV was founded in 2012 by the General Partners of the life science teams at Advanced Technology Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures to invest in early-stage breakthrough medical device and biopharmaceutical companies that have the potential to change medicine. Members of the Lightstone team have been involved in several of the largest, venture-backed life science exits over the last decade.

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