Promoting Gender Equality in Entrepreneurship

PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEADERSHIP
Singapore’s Female Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Overview
November 26th, 2015
www.femalefounders.com
Research - Policy - Advocacy
1

About this overview
Singapore’s Female Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Overview is work in progress with an aim of
representing the true market opportunity.
We see this as an opportunity to crowdsource and request you to contribute additional female
entrepreneurs and ecosystem players. Please submit your suggestions to
ecosystemSG@femalefounders.com
Thank you for your support.
DISCLAIMER: Although Female Founders takes every reasonable step to ensure that the information thus compiled and/or collected is accurately reflected in this
overview, Female Founders: (i) provide the Data “as is, as available” and without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation,
warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement; (ii) make no representations, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the Data
contained in this Report or its suitability for any particular purpose; (iii) accept no liability for any use of the said Data or reliance placed on it, in particular, for any
interpretation, decisions, or actions based on the information in this overview.
2Singapore’s Female Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Overview - Research - Policy - Advocacy - November 26th, 2015 - www.femalefounders.com

Goals of the Singapore Ecosystem Overview
The Female Founder’s ecosystem overview offers insights into the entrepreneurs, investors,
networks, and coworking spaces of the entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship decision-
makers in Singapore. This research-driven document aims at:
Understanding the changing ecosystem of the female entrepreneurship and
intrapreneurship in Singapore.
Identify and improve visibility of female entrepreneurs and the supporting ecosystem in
Singapore with media, VCs in order to increase gender equality.
Plan effective policy and advocacy programs to engage the ecosystem against
unconscious gender bias.

*Entrepreneurs are defined by the OECD as individuals who display the readiness to take risks with new or innovative ideas to generate new
products or services and are involved in the day-to-day running of the company to differentiate them from mere financiers such as business
angels, shareholders, silent partners etc.
Contents
Introduction
Supporting
Ecosystem:
Key players
Female
Entrepreneurs*
in Singapore
Female VCs and
VC’s investing in
female-led
companies
1. 2. 3. 4.

Intro to the Singapore landscape

Why this overview
Businesses with women do better but women receive a fraction of VC funds1.
Women
entrepreneurs report
average annual sales
of USD 9.1 million
versus men at USD
8.4 million. 2
1 Data referring to enterpreneurs in 17 countries (BNP) or teh US (Babson College).
2 Data BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneurialism Report
3 Women Entrepreneurs 2014: Bridging the Gender Gap in Venture Capital, Babson College
Companies with
women CEO only
receive 3% of VC
dollars
(1.5bil. Out of 50.8 bil.)3
Businesses with a woman
executive team are more
likely to have higher
valuations at both 1st and
last funding (64% higher
and 49% higher) 3

Why Singapore
Singapore’s entrepreneurship ecosystem offers favourable conditions but
women don’t fully reap its benefits
52% of start-up
founders1 in SG hold a
Master’s or PHD. (vs. 42% in SV &
49% in TA2 )3
32% of founders are
serial entrepreneurs.
(vs. 56% in SV & 47% in TA) 3
Average age of founders in
Singapore is 33. 3
1,400 tech-enabled
start-ups and 2,400
people are currently
estimated to be in the
Singapore ecosystem3.
Singapore is ranked 17th
on the Global Start-up
Ecosystem Index as the first
city from Asia.4(The list is toped
by SV, TA and Los Angeles.)
1Refers to tech-enabled start-ups.
2SV and TA are abbreviations of Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv.
3PWC Study, Singapore’s tech-enabled start-up ecosystem, March 2015.
4Start-upGenome, Start-up Ecosystem Report 2014.
5Mastercard Index of Women Advancement 2015.
42.1is the proportion of
female to every 100male
business owners.5 (Australia 50.6,
, Japan 20.6, New Zealand 43.7, Philippines
36.4, Vietnam 42, Thailand 32.9)

How Singapore compares
5% 10%
Singapore Silicon Valley Singapore US
7.9% 16.6%
Philippines Singapore
Ranked 7 Ranked 54
Percentage of
women entrepreneurs
in tech-enabled
start-ups1
Percentage of women
members on corporate
boards2
Gender Gap Ranking3
1 PWC Study, Singapore’s tech-enabled start-up ecosystem, March 2015
2 Catalyst.org and Board Agender Singapore
3 Global Gender Gap report , WEF, 2015 8Singapore’s Female Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Overview - Research - Policy - Advocacy - November 26th, 2015 - www.femalefounders.com

1. Female Entrepreneurs you need
to know in Singapore

Female founded companies that have been acquired
Alexis Horowitz
Luxola
Claire Mula
Sprooki
*Alphabetical order by first name
Lim Qing Ru
Zopim
Shao Ning
JobsCentral
Amelia Chen
LoveByte
Althea Lim
Gushcloud
Daphne Teo
BigDeal
Elfaine Tan
EK Media
Angeline Tham
Soldgers
Kate Tan
Eriin
Kinerit Karin
Singapore DIne
Maisha Miranda
Eriin
Nicole Yee
CozyCot
Qiuyan Tian
Soldgers
Zhi Min Seetoh
Indieescapes
Elaine Lor
Tech Sailor
Gwendolyn Tan
SG Entrepreneurs

Pranoti N
CTO- Rotimatic
Roshni Mahtani
CEO- Tickled Media
Rosaline Koo
CEO- CXA
11
Entrepreneurs leading fast-growth businesses in Singapore
Yiping Goh
CEO - All Deals Asia
Teo Jia En
COO-
Roomorama
Tan Hooi Ling
Cofounder -
GrabTaxi
Sashim Parmanand
CEO - One Animation
Charlene Koh
CMO - Paktor
Grace Park
Chairman - Doc
Doc
Emily Hamilton
MD - Bellabox
Kersie Koh
Creative Director -
Clozette
Norma Sit
CEO - Numoni
Deborah Wee
Head of ops -
HipVan
Amanda Ernst
CEO Duriana
Lynette Seah
CEO - Alpha7
Consultancy
Stephanie Chai
CEO - Luxenomad
Veronica Chew
CMO - Healint
*Alphabetical order by first name, Entrepreneurs have raised over $1m USD VC Funding
Joya Zhao
Cofounder -
iCarsClub
Jeeta
Bandopadhyay
Cofounder - Tookitaki
Shagufta Anuraq
Cofounder- Livspace
Jamie Teo
Cofounder -
12 Cupcakes
Guan Dian
VP - Patsnap

Lyn Lee
Awfully Chocolate
Olivia Lum
Hyflux
12
Business trailblazers
Elim Chew
77th Street
Cynthia Chua
Spa Esprit Group
…and more to come
Claire Chiang
Banyan Tree Hotels and
Resorts
Viola Tan
Love Bonito
Christina Ong
Club 21
Goh Soo Kim
Singapore Dance Theatre
Janice Wong
2am
Leaena Tambyah
AWWA
Rachel Lim
Love Bonito
Singapore’s Female Entrepreneurs Ecosystem Overview - Research - Policy - Advocacy - November 26th, 2015 - www.femalefounders.com

13
Infocus: Olivia Lum; Hyflux
A keen knack for finding opportunity combined with the entrepreneurial spirit to work it through
has been the constant theme in Olivia Lum’s rags to riches story.
As a child, she performed odd jobs, but chiefly sold fruits, sandwiches, ice cream, and even pairs
of jeans upon recognising the demand for these items among her schoolmates. By the time she
was nine, she was the sole breadwinner of her adoptive family.
At 16, and with only $15 to her name, Olivia left her small town in Perak, Malaysia to study
university in Singapore. She continued to peddle various items to make ends meet, but this time
used her earnings to set up a partnership venture after discovering another need: to operate
canteens at construction sites.
During the mid-1980s, Olivia had to bank the entrepreneurial fire as she faced economic
recession. Armed with an honors degree in chemistry from the National University of Singapore,
she instead took on work as a lab chemist at Glaxo Pharmaceuticals. There, however, she
chanced upon another potential business: a water treatment and recycling facility in water-scarce
Singapore.
So in 1989, at age 28, Olivia took the biggest plunge: she left her well-cushioned job and then
sold her apartment and car. She used the money raised to build her own water treatment
company.
What started out with three employees selling water treatment systems grew into a million-dollar
company in five years. Olivia’s company became the market leader in water treatment systems,
thanks to the membrane technology she brought into Singapore in 1993.
Eight years later in January 2001, Hyflux became the first water treatment company to be listed on
the Singapore Stock Exchange. Today, the company boasts more than 2,000 employees
worldwide and Hyflux membranes can be found installed in over 400 locations globally.

2. VCs in Singapore: Investing in
women and employing senior women

VCs that have invested the most in
female-led companies based in Singapore
15
Investors
No. of Portfolio
Companies
No. of Female
Founded
Portfolios
Female Founder
CEO
Capital Injected
LionRock Capital 6 4 (66%) 2 $3m-$4m
Vertex Ventures 6 4 (66%) 1 above $10m
Tigris Capital 10 3 (30%) 3 under $1m
Golden Gate 13 3 (23%) 2 $3m-$4m
Wavemaker 28 6 (21%) 1 $2.5m
Jungle Ventures 24 4 (17%) 1 unknown
500 Startups 20 3 (15%) 1 under $1m
*Source: press releases, public information and company websites

Women VCs in Singapore
Carmen Yuen
Vertex Venture Holdings
Monica Tsai
Singtel Innov8 Ventures
Hui Hsing Ma
TVM Capital
Christina Teo
Capital Pte
Rina Neoh
Mercatus Capital
16
Shirley Wong
TNF Ventures
Soo Boon Koh
iGlobe Partners
Soo Ping Yong
Walden International
Evie Zhang
Vertex Venture Capital
Kris Leong
Walden Intl

VCs in Singapore employing women analysts

18
Infocus: Jenny Lee; GGV Capital
Forty-two-year-old Jenny Lee is quite easily one of the most respected figures in the world of China’s tech
start-ups. Managing Partner at the venture firm GGV Capital, Lee is said to have the Midas touch.
In nearly a decade with the firm, she has invested in over 30 companies, which include many of the biggest
and brightest stars of China’s tech world. Her investments in China include YY, the US$3 billion social
network; the country’s largest mobile browser UC Web; online shopping behemoth Alibaba and the rapidly
growing phone company, Xiaomi.
Unlike the legendary fictional character, Lee’s ability to turn everything she touches into gold is not down to
a boon or a fluke. It is, in fact, rooted in years of on-ground experience and tenacity.
Born in Singapore to a school teacher dad and a homemaker mum, Lee left the country in 1991 to study
electrical engineering at Cornell University. She came back to Singapore briefly to work for Singapore
Technologies Aerospace, before leaving again – this time to get her MBA at Kellogg School of
Management, Northwestern University.
While the MBA may have strengthened Lee’s business and financial acumen, it is her engineering degree
and experience working as a jet engineer that equipped her with two of the most important skills that
underpin her success as an investor -- understanding of commercialization of technology and ability to
recognize where business disruptions can occur.
Lee has figured in the Forbes magazine Global Top 100 VC Midas list every year since 2011. In 2015 Lee
is listed as the top female venture capitalist and figures as #10 on the Midas list -- the first time a woman
has broken into the top 10.

3. Supporting Ecosystem for Female
Entrepreneurs in Singapore

Co-Working Spaces
20
Company Address Features Founder
176 Joo Chiat Rd, #02-01,
S427447
For women only Michaela Anchan
Claymore Connect
442 Orchard Road, #03-01
Singapore 238879
Day-care provided
Rachel Teo, Elisabeth
Wu, Tjin Lee, Elaine Kim
531 Upper Cross Street, #03-11,
S050531
For women only Zenn
75 High Street, S179435
Good location
Lots of space
Tony Chen
128 Prinsep Street #01-01
S188655
Community driven
environment.
Grace Sai, Gouri Mirpuri
71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #02-18,
S139951
Suitable for tech
startups
24-hour access
NUS Enterprise

Co-Working Spaces
21
71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #05-16,
S139951
Inhouse cafe with social and
networking events
Hugh Mason
Meng Wong
62 Ubi Rd 1, Oxley Bizhub 2, #10-08,
S408734
Suitable for artists
Sheau Chan, Erika
Tsirtsakis
2 Veerasamy Rd, S207305
Suitable for entrepreneurs
Internal community forum
Ben Gattie,Y.C. Teo,
Saranta Gattie
70A Bussorah Street, S199483 Suitable for tech startups
Chua Ruiwen, Wong
Meng Weng, Luther
Goh, and Justin Lee.
3 Raffles Place, Bharat Building, #07-
01, S048617
8 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 1,
#07-04, S018960
137 Market Street, Levels 5, 6 and 15, S
048943
For the frequent traveler
Offices in 3000 locations
across 120 countries
Douglas Sutherland

Co-Working Spaces
22
883 North Bridge Rd, S198784 Swim and gym facilities
16 Purvis St, S188595
Suitable for professional
companies
Markus Kaub
115 King George’s Avenue, S208561 Suitable for woodcrafters Bu Shukun
1A Keong Saik Rd, S089109 Great for Entrepreneurs
Ben Gattie,Y.C. Teo,
Saranta Gattie

Women Networks

Media
Bernard Leong
Analyse Asia
Jacquelyn Cheok
Business Times
Joji Thomas Philip
DealStreetAsia
Benjamin Cher
Digital News Asia
Andrew Roth
Digital Frontiers
Iris Leung
e27
Jon Russell
TechCrunch
Terence Lee
Tech In Asia
Debbie Lee
Tech Storm
Grace Chng
The Straits Times
Jacky Yap
Vulcan Post
Newley Purnell
Wall Street Journal
Eileen Yu
Independent
Micheal Montgomery
Venture Beat
24
Janine Stein
ContentAsia
Jiezhen Wu
The Hidden Good
Li Lin Wong
2 Minutes Today
Jackie Yeo
Lady Boss
Karishma Vaswani
BBC
Amrita Kaur
Tabla
Victoria Ho
Mashable

Professional services & accounting
Caroline Baker
OrangeField
Namita Sethi
Future Books
Mag Kwan
SKI Management
Vincent Lim
Prudential Assurance
Juanita Sabapathy
Kolibri
Sze Ying
Pro 1 Management
Consultants
25

Legal
Teresa O’Connor
Infinitus
Terk Yang Lee
Flint & Battery
Stefanie Yuen Thio
TSMP Law
See Kiat Toh
Goodwins
Karen Ng
Dragon Law
Lee Bagshaw
Simmonds Stewart
Koh Chia Ling
Bird & Bird
26
Hooi Yen Chin
Polaris Law Corp

Coaching and Training
27
Grace Clapham
The Change School
Sidhi Dihir
TiE Singapore
Aziza Sheerin
General Assembly
Fazil Musa
Extraordinary Women of Today
Yasmine Khater
Transpiral
Ayla Kremb
Coach
Angela Ognev
Redesign Happy
Christina Andersson
Hyper Island
Sue Adams
Bamboo. Coach/facilitator,
Leadership development

Leading minds & enablers across the tech ecosystem
Aliza Knox
Twitter
28
Joanna Catalano
Google
Lena Goh
IDA Singapore
Minister Grace Fu
MCCY
Dr. Helmut Schutte
Insead
Dr. Meri Rosich
Female Founders
Samridhi Singh
Endeavour
Kashmira Chawak
Female Founders
Lorena Sanchos
Female Founders
Dr. Supriti B
Female Founders
Katarina Hasbani
Female Founders
Sonya Madeira
Rice Communications
Waki Yeneoka
MeMom
Ayeesha Khanna
The Keys Academy
Kristine Lauria
Walkabout Singapore
Anne Salado
AWS
Doina Palici
AXA Insurance
Nadine Yap
Temasys
Krystal Choo
Wander
Phalgun Raju
Morph Ventures

Infocus: Mouna Auri; Woomentum
A civil engineer’s startup is building bridges for women
entrepreneurs in Asia. Mouna Auri’s crowdsourcing
platform, Woomentum, offers the space where women
entrepreneurs share their challenge, give support,
receive support, inspire each other and solve each
other’s problems. Woomentum combines
crowdsourcing + Human to Human Power + the Her to
Her effect.
Think of Woomentum as a place where you can ask a
question and get an answer by female experts out
there. A platform that makes expertise affordable,
showcase the best of female entrepreneurs and taps
into the deep knowledge of experts in a host of
different fields.
29

Incubators
30
Elaine Kim
Crib
Hugh Mason
JFDI Lily Chan
NUS Enterprise
Dr Lim Jui
NTU Innovation
Dr Francis Yeoh
Mediaprenuer
Chua Boon Ping
SPH Media Fund
Joseph Zeigler
Muru-D
Grace Sai
PACT Incubator

Co-Founders
Dr. Meri Rosich
Roshni Mahtani
Singapore Executive Committee
Advocacy - Joanna Catalano
Membership - Kashmira Chawak
Policy - Katarina Uherova Hasbani
Public relations - Sonya Madeira
Publications - Dr. Supriti Bezbaruah
Research - Waki Yoneoka
Special Projects - Lorena Espi Sancho
Published by Female Founders on:
November 26th 2015
Updated May 30th 2016
Locations
SINGAPORE
TOKYO
SAN FRANCISCO
SYDNEY
We are an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization
dedicated to supporting gender equality in entrepreneurship and
leadership through research, policy and advocacy action.
We aim to help accelerate the female founders ecosystem in
Singapore by increasing from 5% to 20% the female funded
startups by 2020.
We would like to thank our contributors:
Arnaud Bonzom, Darius Cheung, Florian Cornu

For more information visit:

Promoting Gender Equality in Entrepreneurship

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