Description

Singapore is fast emerging as a buoyant regional hub for start-ups to set up, with a significant increase in the number of venture capital investments over the past years. To facilitate venture capital investments in Singapore and the region, the Singapore Academy of Law’s Promotion of Singapore  Law Committee  and the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association have jointly developed the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (”VIMA”). The VIMA comprise a suite of transactional documents that can be used by entrepreneurs and investors to raise early-stage financing more efficiently. Specifically, they set a market benchmark and have been drafted with a balanced approach to enable parties in the financing round to reach common ground more quickly.

This seminar will introduce the VIMA, touch on its key features and benefits, including how a VC deal is typically structured and put together. Concepts covered in the VIMA will also be relevant to those interest- ed in corporate M&A as they provide a good foundational overview of what to expect in such transactions. This informative session will be presented by lawyers from Allen & Gledhill, Clifford Chance and WongPartnership, who were members of the working group involved in the drafting of the VIMA, followed by a Q&A session.

About The Speakers

Dr Lin Lin
Assistant Professor, NUS Law

Lin Lin is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at the National University  of Singapore.  She  teaches and researches primarily in company law, alternative investments, venture capital, FinTech and Chinese corporate law. Dr. Lin has published widely in leading law journals in her held, such as Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance, Berkeley Business Law Journal, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Columbia Journal of Asian Law and Journal of Business Law. Her monograph titled ”Venture Capital in China: Changing Laws in an Evolving Market” will be published by the Cambridge University Press. Lin has delivered public lectures at numerous law  schools including Stanford, Tsinghua and Peking University. She has been a visiting scholar at several universities including Stanford and Oxford. She has taught as Visiting Professor at law  schools in mainland China and Taiwan and has provided executive training for officials from China, India and Singapore.

Mr Gregory Tan
Head, Legal & Regulatory, Temasek

Gregory Tan is a Managing Director of Legal & Regulatory at Temasek. He graduated from the University of Bristol and is qualified in Singapore, England & Wales and New York. He currently also serves on the Promotion of Singapore Law Committee at the Singapore Academy of Law and is Chair of the Working Group for the VIMA (Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements) project. Before joining Temasek, Gregory was a partner at the US-based international law firm of Morrison & Forester where he worked on a wide range of transactions, specialising in cross border M&A transactions, joint ventures and private equity. His practice was recognised in leading directories such as Chambers Asia-Pacific, IFLR 1000 and Asia Pacific Legal 500. Prior to private practice, Gregory was a Justices’ Law Clerk in the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Mr Kyle Lee
Partner, Co-Head – Start-Up / Venture Capital Practice WongPartnership LLP

Kyle LEE is Co-Head of the Start-Up / Venture Capital Pracfice and a Partner in the Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions and FinTech Practices. His main areas of practice encompass mergers and acquisitions, general corporate and commercial transactions, as well as FinTech, venture capital and start-up maters. Kyle has extensive experience in venture capital transactions acting for both investors and start-ups. He is also part of the core working group for the development of the Venture Capital Investment Model  Agreements (VIMA), an initiative spearheaded by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, to allow early stage financing deals to be consummated efficiently.

Mr Julian Ho
Senior Associate, Allen & Gledhill LLP

Julian’s areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, joint ventures and general corporate transactions. He has spent time on secondment with Fenwick & West LLP in Silicon Valley, where he focused on venture capital transactions, and worked with technology and emerging companies on a broad range of corporate transactional maters and venture capital financings. Julian is a member of the core working group for the development of the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA), launched by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

Mr Michael Ng
Associate, Mergers and Acquisitions, Clifford Chance Singapore

Michael has advised on a wide range of M&A transactions, joint ventures and divestments across EMEA and Asia Pacific regions having worked in Clifford Chance’s London and Singapore offices. He has experience in a range of sectors with a focus in the private equity and infrastructure sectors.