Facebook co-founder invests in S’pore start-up
29-year-old Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who is worth US$2.5 billion (S$3.1 billion) and is now based in Singapore, has invested an undisclosed sum of money in local digital media management company ADZ, and will join its board of directors.
In a statement published on Wednesday, ADZ believes his investment and vast experience as a technology entrepreneur and investor will be a valuable asset to the company and put Singapore on the world map.
"We're delighted to have Eduardo join our board and his agreement to participate in our Series A financing. He has been very supportive of our team, vision and plans. Eduardo not only brings his status as co-founder of the world"s largest social network, but he also provides us with immense knowledge and experience around the implications of 'social' on advertising and vice versa," said Reza Behnam, CEO and founder of ADZ.
"I consider many factors when making a decision to invest in a company" said Eduardo Saverin. "The companies I invest in must offer something unique. They must challenge the way things are being done and do them better, their solutions must be world-class, and the management team must be exceptional.
Two years ago, the Brazilian-born billionaire left America and settled down in Singapore, citing the Lion City as a conducive place for start-ups, with a pool of talent and the best universities in the region.
Other than spending his leisure time at The Butter Factory along Fullerton Road, the media-shy Eduardo has been writing much bigger cheques in hopes of planting a seed that will blossom into another Internet wonder. In January this year, he became the lead investor in an US$8 million round of financing of Silicon Valley company Qwiki.
Eduardo is not the only foreign entrepreneur eying Singapore start-ups.
Ambient Sound Investments (ASI), an investment firm formed by four of Skype's founding engineers, has recently made a seven-figure joint investment in Progeniq, a maker of hardware cards that boosts the performance of existing computers.
While Singaporeans are consuming a lot of technology from the United States such as Apple's iPhones, we have yet to create and sustain a world-renowned technology company unlike the airline industry. Creative Technology, which was once well-known worldwide for its sound blaster cards, has been significantly losing global presence in recent years.
I believe as more successful foreign entrepreneurs and investors set their sights on the local tech scene, it will lure more Singaporeans to jump into the technology bandwagon, clearing the conventional "fear of taking risks" notion.
The writer is a 17-year-old technology blogger who loves social media and gadgets. He is also Singapore's No. 1 Twitter user, with 210,000 followers.
