Olympic gold medalist Schooling enters VC space

JOSEPH Schooling, Singapore’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist, has announced his retirement from competitive swimming and is now striving for gold in another area: venture capital investing.

Schooling is now a founding partner at Swaen Schooling Capital, along with investment banker Cliff Go and serial entrepreneur Ben Ling.

“I am eager to explore new passions, face different challenges, and see where this next phase of life takes me,” Schooling wrote in his retirement announcement on Instagram.

Based on Go’s LinkedIn profile, Swaen Schooling Capital was established in August 2022. Go himself had previously founded his own fund management firm, Swaen Capital, in 2011.

With Swaen Schooling Capital, the team focuses on early-stage investments in three areas: impact and sustainability, sports and wellness, and tech. The firm is also open to opportunities to create “original businesses in-house” or form strategic joint-venture partnerships.

To date, there have been no announcements of investments made by the VC firm.

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Olympic golden boy Joseph Schooling retires from swimming

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However, Schooling has previously invested in the pre-seed round of the Singapore-based mental health startup Huddleverse in May 2023, according to Crunchbase. It is unclear whether this investment was made through Swaen Schooling Capital or as an angel investor.

Impact and sustainability have become a focus for investors in South-east Asia recently. Companies such as Temasek, East Ventures, Openspace, and Wavemaker have invested in startups operating in this field. TECH IN ASIA