Singapore Start-ups Receiving Government Grants Exiting via IPO, Merger or Acquisition

Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) in each year from 2010 to 2015, how many Singapore start-ups that have received Government grants have managed to successfully exit via IPO, merger or acquisition; (b) whether the exits, as a percentage of funded start-ups, on par with the ratios seen in other cities that are hotbeds of start-up activity.

Mr S Iswaran: From 2010 to 2015, SPRING and MDA supported a total of 562 start-ups through the Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme (TECS), ACE Start-ups grant and the IDM Jumpstart and Mentor (iJAM) scheme. Over the same period, a total of nine start-ups that had previously received one of these grants successfully exited through an IPO, merger or acquisition.

Agencies do not have equivalent data for comparison with other cities.