07. Investments by GIC and Temasek

Investments By GIC

Established in 1981, GIC is one of the three investment entities in Singapore that manage the Government’s reserves, alongside the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Temasek.

It is ranked #12 (Mar 2022) among the world’s top sovereign wealth funds, according to consulting firm Global SWF.

2022

• Chainalysis [12 May 2022]
  • Chainalysis bags US$170m in Series F funds led by GIC, doubling the platform’s valuation from US$4.2 billion to US$8.6 billion.
  • other investors include Blackstone, California-based Accel and Dragoneer, Bank of New York Mellon, and Emergence Capital.

2021

• BC Group
  • GIC has taken a $70 million stake in fintech firm BC Group (Hong Kong-Listed Digital Asset Firm), the parent company of regulated crypto exchange OSL.
  • The investment was made via a new stock top-up placement of 31,952,500 shares at a price of HK$17 per share, representing 8.25 percent of the issued share capital
• Anchorage
  • U.S. based digital asset bank Anchorage said it raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by GIC.
• Chainalysis [Jun 2021]
  • GIC joins Altimeter, Blackstone, Pictet, Sequoia Heritage, and SVB Capital in the $100 million Series E financing round
  • Founded in 2014, Chainalysis provides data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries, which is used for investigation, compliance, and market intelligence software.
  • The company opened its Singapore office, led by APAC managing director Ulisse Dell’Orto, in 2020.
• Digital Currency Group (DCG) [Nov 2021]
  • secured an over US$700 million (S$943.3 million) investment round from SoftBank’s Vision Fund II and Latin American Fund valuing the company at US$10 billion.
  • Other equity investors include Google’s Capital G, Ribbit Capital, GIC, Tribe Capital and Emory University
  • DCG is the parent company of crypto exchange Luno
• Nansen [Dec 2021]
  • Raised $75M for in Series B funding round led by Accel
  • with participation from GIC, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Tiger Global, SCB 10X, additional prominent VCs and angel investors.
  • last raised $12 million in a Series A round led by a16z in June 2021

2018

• Coinbase:
  • GIC was among investors who raised $300 million (Series E) for Coinbase, a digital currency exchange headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Investments By Temasek

Temasek Holdings Limited or simply Temasek, is a Singaporean holding company, owned by the Government of Singapore.

Vertex Venture Holdings, also known as Vertex Holdings, is an investment holding company with a group of venture capital funds worldwide. It is a full subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

2022

• FTX US: [26 Jan 2022]
  • valued at US$8 billion after raising US$400 million in its first funding round from investors including Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.
• FTX: [31 Jan 2022]
  • FTX raised $400 million from investors at a valuation of $32 billion
  • funding round included investments from Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and SoftBank
  • company has now raised a total of $1.8 billion in the past six months
  • FTX’s U.S. arm last week said it was valued at $8 billion after raising $400 million, its first funding round, from the same group of investors.
• Amber Group [Feb 2022]
  • Singapore-based cryptocurrency trading platform Amber Group has raised $200 million in a Series B extension round led by Temasek, valuing the company at $3 billion.
  • Other investors that participated include Sequoia China, Pantera Capital, Tiger Global Management, Tru Arrow Partners, and Coinbase Ventures.
  • This follows the firm’s Series B $100 million round last year.
  • Amber Group has raised $328 million in total since it was founded in 2017.
• (Exit) Coinbase [Feb 2022]
  • Sold off position and reported no holdings in Q4 2021 portfolio report.
• Immutable: [Mar 2022]
  • NFT Layer 2 startup Immutable raises $200 million in Series C funding, now valued at $2.5 billion, achieving unicorn status
  • Immutable is the startup behind the NFT-focused scaling network Immutable X
    • is currently being used by GameStop and TikTok for NFT projects.
  • Temasek led Immutable’s funding round.
    • Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset, and Liberty Global also backed the round as new investors.
    • Previous investors, including Alameda Research, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners, and Fabric Ventures, also participated.
  • firm’s current headcount is 165 people, and it plans to hire an additional 200 people over the next 12 months
• Animoca Brands: [Sep 2022]
  • closed a strategic funding round for US$110 million from the issuance of convertible notes
  • included new investors Temasek, Boyu Capital, and GGV Capital, as well as existing investors Mirae Asset Management and True Global Ventures (TGV).
  • strategic consortium of new investors, formed by Temasek, Boyu Capital and GGV Capital, will provide advice to the Company as it continues to grow and build its organisational capabilities.
  • Animoca Brands is a market leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification, that is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse.

2021

• Coinomo [Jun 2021]
  • secured an undisclosed amount in a new round of financing led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India.
• FTX [Oct 2021]
  • Crypto startup FTX Trading raises US$420m in funding round at a valuation of US$25 billion co-led by Temasek
  • continuation of an earlier Series B funding round from July, when the 2-year-old startup raised US$1 billion from SoftBank, Temasek and other investors at a valuation of US$18 billion.
• Partior [2021]
  • Singapore-based Partior is a joint venture between Temasek and banks DBS and JPMorgan
  • has its genesis in Project Ubin – a collaboration between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the financial industry to explore the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology for clearing and settlement services.

2018

• Binance
  • Vertex Ventures, backed by Singapore state fund Temasek, has invested in Binance