Financial Losses Suffered by EDBI and Temasek Holdings Due to Liquidation of Zilingo

Mr Leong Mun Wai asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) how much are the financial losses that EDBI and Temasek Holdings accrued respectively from the recent liquidation of Zilingo; (b) how many companies have received fundings from both EDBI and Temasek; and (c) what are the similarities and differences in the criteria that EDBI and Temasek use to assess the financial and corporate governance risks posed by startups they have invested in and the measures taken to mitigate these risks.

Mr Speaker, EDBI is the corporate investment arm of Economic Development Board (EDB) and its mandate is to invest in globally competitive startups and high-growth enterprises with the potential to operate and grow from Singapore. Temasek's mandate is focused on delivering sustainable returns over the long term and it invests across all stages of the business life cycle, from early stage to mature, as well as unlisted and listed companies.

EDBI and Temasek invested in Zilingo from 2018 to 2020. These investment decisions were made independently by the two entities to fulfil their respective mandates. EDBI and Temasek typically do not comment on their investments in specific companies, or the performance of these individual investments. The Government's approach is to review the overall performance of EDBI's and Temasek's portfolios, rather than the performance of specific investments, to ensure that they are meeting their respective investment mandates.

As established investors, EDBI and Temasek recognise the inherent risks of investing in startups and take steps to mitigate these risks. Both entities follow industry practice to assess financial and corporate governance risks, such as having a structured due diligence process and engaging the management of investee companies to monitor their business strategy and performance.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State one supplementary question. Given the recent event, whether Temasek will review their due diligence processes, especially when it comes to charismatic founders and whether they plan to engage founders and the board more regularly to ensure good governance?

Mr Speaker, we have explained this both in the House and also on other occasions, that for Temasek, for example, they do have a process to assess the risks of the various companies that they invest in, and they will also, as part of this process, engage the board and the management of these companies regularly. For the process to work well, it is important, and I hope Mr Leong agrees with me on this point, that we have to pay attention to what is the performance of the overall portfolio and not just on specific investments because on specific investments, there will be some that will make money and there will be some that will not make money.