Unravelling complexity in Singapore too, the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements for Singapore are now out!
These have been drafted under the auspices of the Singapore Academy of Law and Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.
They follow in the footsteps of similar projects in other jurisdictions such as those by:
- the United States based National Venture Capital Association,
- the British Venture Capital Association, and
- the Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association.
As with others, the aim of the release of the Singapore VC documents is to reduce the time and costs of preparing and negotiating each investment “from scratch”.
Of course, even without these documents, investments are rarely documented “from scratch”. A law firm’s precedent shareholders agreement or at least an “anonymised” agreement from the last most similar transaction is often used and customised. The drawback is that most will not have access to these documents unless they become a client of the firm for that transaction. The advantage is that a client hiring the firm and their documents draws some level of comfort about the quality and appropriateness of the precedent.
The Singapore VC documents aim for a “balanced and pragmatic” approach.
Having worked closely with VCs and start-up’s, we find that what is “balanced and pragmatic” can differ from VC to VC or start-up to start-up. What goes into your first draft is important for setting the tone. Even if you’re using a template, you should consider what it says carefully.
The addition of VC model documents for Singapore will certainly help in early stage funding deals. We look forward to helping clients customise their transactions on the basis of these documents.
We also look forward to doing a deeper dive into this set of VC model documents in the same way we have for those put out by the NVCA, BVCA and AVCAL.
Stay tuned for more on this front!
Here are the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements for Singapore.
Read more on our analysis of the NVCA, BVCA and AVCAL model documents including on:
- similarities in board and shareholder control provisions – 3 key control concepts for a SHA
- similarities in transfer of shares provisions – 5 key concepts on transferring shares under a SHA
- different options for board control provisions – 5 key options for board provisions in a SHA
- different options for pre-emptives on transfers – 5 key options for pre-emptives on transfers in a SHA
- different options for drag-along provisions – 5 key areas in drag-along provisions in a SHA
- different options for reserved matters – 5 key considerations for a reserved matters list in a shareholders’ agreement
You may also be interested in our thoughts on choosing a template agreement – 6 tips for picking a template agreement
Read more about our lawyers’ fundraising and joint ventures experience.
Get in touch to explore how we may help you with your shareholder arrangements.
About us
fsLAW is a boutique business law firm group providing legal solutions and advocacy for clients in the Asia Pacific region from Singapore. We provide our services through retainers as well as in the traditional way of an hourly or daily rate or fixed-quote for projects.
Read more about us – www.fslaw-asia.com. Get in touch – faith.sing@fslaw-asia.com.