THE year is 2018 and whether it's shares they're selling or digital tokens, the companies seeking public financing are getting younger and younger.

Synagie Corp, the newest debutante on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange, was founded in 2014, launched the first version of its e-commerce platform in August 2016, and is now public two years to that date.

Many more earlier-stage ventures have raised money through initial coin offerings (ICOs), no-frills affairs that avoid the bark of the securities watchdog so long as the coins issued work like pre-paid vouchers or "utility tokens" instead of true securities that give punters a right to participate in returns from the groups' assets.