S'pore draws $5.45b in venture capital in 2024 despite slump

Firms land 369 deals in first 9 months, a year-on-year dip from $5.8b and 410 deals

- Timothy Goh

Despite a slump in funding, Singapore's venture capital market remained active in the first nine months of 2024.

Firms headquartered in the Republic raised US$4.05 billion (S$5.45 billion) across 369 deals in the nine months ending September 2024, down slightly from US$4.3 billion (S$5.8 billion) and 410 deals in the same period in 2023, according to a report by Enterprise Singapore and research firm Pitchbook issued in November.

The dip in funding placed Singapore behind Beijing, London, New York and Silicon Valley in deal value. It also trailed those cities, along with Seoul and Tokyo, in deal volume.

On the other hand, the Republic captured the lion's share of venture capital among Asean countries, accounting for 58 per cent of total deal volume and 68 per cent of deal value.

Venture activity was uneven within Singapore's start-up ecosystem, with some sectors seeing dips in deal volume and value, compared with 2023, according to data from the government-backed Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan.

The RIE, which is issued every five years, covers domains including smart nation and digital economy, human health and potential, urban solutions and sustainability, as well as manufacturing, trade and connectivity.

The data showed a decline in venture activity for both the general and deep tech sectors in Singapore in 2024, with deep tech seeing a sharper drop.

Deep tech firms refer to those which provide high-tech innovation in engineering, or are based on significant scientific advances.

Local general tech firms secured US$3.2 billion across 273 deals, slightly down from US$3.3 billion and 292 deals a year ago. Deep tech firms raised US$800 million across 96 deals, compared with US$1 billion and 118 deals in the same period in 2023.