Temasek Holdings Pte., Singapore’s State Investment Firm To Explore Blockchain Technology.

By Rishma Banerjee

As per reports by Bloomberg, on November 22, 2018, Singapore’s state investment firm, Temasek Holding Pte., is on its way to set up new groups to explore the avenues and the scope of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. Temasek becomes the latest major institution to jump onto the bandwagon of incorporating blockchain technology, as they are reportedly looking for ways to utilize it in their day to day functions.

The company whose Asia-focused portfolio was around 235 USD, in the spring of 2018, according to an internal memo acquired by Bloomberg, are creating “experimental pods” to focus on artificial intelligence and blockchain. The Chief Operating Officer of principal management arm Temasek International Pte, Chia Song Hwee will be in charge of overseeing the new groups which the company believes will be impacting numerous industries, in the long term.

The memo also said that this new strategy was announced along with other organizational changes, implemented on October 1, 2018. It also revealed that Temasek was one of the 40 institutions to have invested in R3 which is a global banking consortium and a company dealing with blockchain software. The investment, made in may 2017, was a part of the collective $107 million Series A fundraising round, which at that time had been advertised as the most substantial DLT investment. Temasek had also been a part of the $600 million series C funding round in April for the world’s most valuable AI startup, China’s SenseTime Group Ltd as well as assumed a leadership role in an A round in June for London-based Eigen Technologies, which automates the extraction of unstructured data.

The memo also said,

“As the investment landscape becomes more competitive and complex, we are now seeing more situations where we would benefit from collaboration and specialized capabilities wider than our traditional sector and market team approach.”

The Americas, China, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, India and Southeast Asia have been identified by the company as “investment markets,” and they are now in the process of doing deals and allocating capital. Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand were also identified as “engagement markets” where the focus would be on institutional network building. The company, as per the memo would also be establishing a Strategic Initiatives Unit to be led by Tan Chong Lee, the head of Europe, Middle East, and Africa as well as Southeast Asia, to improve the company’s response to opportunistic deals which require quick turnarounds and senior level assessments.