ECF platform: 'Is S'pore ready to value startups?'

Singapore

WHILE an overall positive addition to Singapore's entrepreneurial and financing landscape, the new equity crowdfunding (ECF) platform proposed by Singapore Exchange (SGX) and venture capital and incubation firm Clearbridge Accelerator on Monday elicited investment and demand concerns that led to market watchers pondering a bigger question: Is Singapore ready to value startups?

Said Stefanie Yuen Thio, joint managing director at TSMP Law Corporation: "This platform will be a strategic opportunity to bridge the gap between old school market participants - who still think in terms of price-earnings ratios - and the business giants of tomorrow, the tech companies."