Golden Gate Ventures, a Silicon Valley linked early stage fund, launches in S’pore

Golden Gate Ventures, a new Singapore-based startup accelerator and early stage fund, is open for business and is accepting applications.

Backed by i/o Ventures, a well-known Silicon Valley startup accelerator, Golden Gate’s partners, investors, and mentors originate from the Silicon Valley and all around Asia.

The size of the fund is around US$10M, and investments will range from US$50,000 to US$500,000.

The company’s logo is a stylized bridge, and that is what it hopes to become — a bridge between the well known technology hub and Asia. The most promising teams from the Golden Gate program will get a chance to work in San Francisco for one to two months each semester.

Golden Gate consists of two parts: Tier one is an accelerator program where startups will work together to launch their products and get them to market, with the assistance of two full-time mentors. Tier two is a seed investment program for startups that have already launched their product and gained market traction.

In both tiers, startups will have access to regional and international mentors, networking sessions across the region, and an active investor network that spans both East and West. Teams must attend weekly progress and mentoring meetings.

The two full-time mentors are Vinnie Laura and Jeffrey Paine.

Vinnie co-founded Lefora, a forum hosting service that was later acquired. He’s also the organizer of the SuperHappyDevHouse in Singapore, a premier hackathon event that originated from Silicon Valley.

Jeffrey is the co-founder of Battle Ventures, a technology incubator  in Singapore with a portfolio across Asia. He also started the Founder Institute in Asia, which has graduated over 40 companies so far.

Providing the support network from Silicon Valley is Paul Bragiel, co-founder of multiple successful companies, including i/o Ventures. He travels frequently to Asia.

Golden Gate is the latest in a number of startup incubators that have set up shop here. JFDI, which launched not to long ago, is in the midst of their 100-day startup bootcamp.

Several other accelerators, like Neoteny Labs and the Social Slingshot Fund, are working in collaboration with the government’s National Research Foundation as part of their Technology Incubation Scheme.

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