• Deal gives Ion Pacific additional exposure to Singlife, Southeast Asia’s leading mobile savings and protection company
• Investment is completed right after Singlife’s S$3.2 billion merger with Aviva Singapore, the largest insurance deal in Singapore to date

HONG KONG – Ion Pacific, the investment manager focused on providing creative capital solutions to the innovation ecosystem, has completed a $8.7 million secondary investment in Singlife, a Singapore-based mobile savings and protection company. As part of this transaction, Ion Pacific purchased secondary shares in the company from several existing shareholders of Singlife, thus providing liquidity to the sellers.

The transaction was completed following Singlife’s S$3.2 billion merger with Aviva Singapore in end-2020 that marked one of the largest deals in the insurance sector in Southeast Asia and the largest in Singapore. Ion Pacific has been a shareholder of Singlife since early 2019 when it completed a US$7.3mn investment into the company in partnership with Walter de Oude, Founder and Group CEO of Singlife.

“We are very excited to continue supporting Singlife, a truly unique business in Southeast Asia, a key focus region for Ion Pacific,” said Kristaps Ronis, Principal at Ion Pacific. “Ion Pacific continues to support exceptional businesses and strong founding teams as a part of its mandate to provide creative financing and liquidity solutions to the global innovation economy.”

“Every entrepreneurial business needs the support of equity partners that are 100% supportive of and aligned with the business and its founders’ interests. Ion Pacific has proved to be just that,” said Walter de Oude, Singlife’s Founder and Group CEO.

Since its inception, Singlife has demonstrated exponential growth and market recognition. Singlife is the first independent homegrown company to be fully licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) since 1970 as a life insurance company. The partnership with Aviva Singapore marks Singlife’s most significant milestone to-date, following its acquisition of Zurich Life Singapore in 2018. The company is backed by TPG, Sumitomo Life Insurance Company, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Aflac Incorporated, and IPGL, joining the ranks of other regional tech companies as one of the top-funded homegrown fintech companies in Singapore. Singlife manages almost S$7.0 billion in life insurance coverage.

In March 2020, Singlife launched Singapore’s first mobile insurance-savings plan, the Singlife Account, with an accompanying Visa Debit Card. The Singlife Account hit 100,000 downloads within the first three months of launch, with customers entrusting almost S$500 million through the product to date, signifying a collective demand for better ways to manage, grow, and protect money. As part of the firm’s regional expansion, Singlife received its licence and began operations in the Philippines in February 2020.

As a top-3 global private wealth hub with strong market tailwinds, Singapore is a growth engine for the insurance industry. Southeast Asia’s life premium market is estimated to grow c.7% p.a. from 2020 to 2025.

ABOUT ION PACIFIC:

Founded in 2015, Ion Pacific is a leading VC focused fund manager. Headquartered in Hong Kong, with a presence in the US, Europe and Israel, Ion Pacific manages several funds and is the trusted provider of creative capital solutions to the tech and venture ecosystem.

ABOUT SINGLIFE:

Singlife is a Singapore-based mobile savings and protection company that aims to unlock the potential of money by making financial services more convenient, transparent, accessible and affordable. Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2017, Singlife has since been innovating its solutions to meet the evolving needs of customers and to provide a full suite of connected financial service offerings, reshaping Singapore’s financial services industry. Its most recent product innovation is the Singlife Account, providing up to 2.5% returns and no fees or lock-ins, with the ability to withdraw instantly via FAST or your personal Singlife VISA card.

This article was also published in Singapore Business Review and Hongkong Business