Investing in Technology

Technology has disrupted traditional industries, spawning new businesses in its wake. To adapt to this challenging environment, we have expanded our investing and organisational efforts in this area, with a focus on identifying good companies, good technologies, and good business models.

Our holistic approach

GIC’s ‘ODE to technology’ framework describes our investing and organisational responses to the repercussions of disruptive technology. O-D-E stands for Offence, Defence, and Enterprise Excellence.

Offence – Gaining from technological disruption by investing in the winners of this shift
Defence – Protecting our existing investments as they face disruption
Enterprise Excellence – Leveraging technology for our investment and organisational processes

Investing in technology

GIC has been investing in the technology space since our founding. Our Technology Business Group monitors and assesses industry trends, and recommends GIC’s overall technology portfolio size and composition, and partnership strategy. Our Technology Investment Group handles most of our early stage investments, through venture capital funds, co-investments, and direct investments. We also have sector specialists for public and private market investments.

We leverage our core strengths to invest in technology:

Long-Term Orientation

Apply a long-term, fundamentals-based approach
Stay invested for the long term, including post-IPO for newer companies

Broad Investment Mandate

Invest directly and through external fund managers in start-ups, growth companies, pre- and post-listed companies
Flexibility in capital structure, investment size, sub-sector, geography, and duration of our investments

Global Presence

Local presence in innovation hubs such as Silicon Valley, Beijing and Mumbai, complemented by our global presence through eight other offices
Able to spot leads and lags across regions, and capture unique opportunities

Collaborative & Committed Partner

Seek to be a lifetime partner and build multiple touch points with our investee companies
Share connections and insights with our investee companies and external fund managers

Given the uncertain and rapid nature of technological disruption, we remain cautious and selective. We manage investment risk by diversifying, maintaining a robust investment process, adhering to strict pricing discipline, understanding the risk-reward calculus, and sizing the investment.

Learn more about our investments

A tech-driven organisation

At GIC, we leverage technology to harness data, deepen insights, and sharpen our competitive edge in investing. Being agile when faced with emergent scenarios and deal opportunities remains key to achieving our purpose. To do so, we gather professionals across disciplines, including quantitative strategists, data scientists, and technologists, to provide GIC with an enduring proprietary edge through investment insights, as well as increased efficiency and productivity in our investment processes.

Technology Group (TG)

Enables superior investment performance through fast, reliable, and secure solutions with a ‘customer first’ approach.

For example, TG ensures GIC stays ahead of technology trends by investing in its people, software, engineering practices, tooling, and technology stack. Continuous experimentation with new technology is coupled with an agile solution delivery approach.

Data Strategy Group (DSG)

Powers data and insights-driven investment processes and decisions, and delivers operational efficiencies and excellence.

For example, DSG designs and implements data governance policies and products to enable sustainable and scalable data usage across the organisation.

Investment Insights Group (IIG)

Harnesses data as well as quantitative and data science techniques to perform investment research and analysis. This enables GIC to improve our abilities to scan and search for investment opportunities, in addition to building convictions in our investment decision-making and portfolio constructions. IIG institutionalises investment insights and signals to allow collective knowledge and learnings to benefit and compound over generations.

For example, IIG applies natural language processing techniques on large unstructured alternative data sets to generate granular insights into our long-term investments.

Investing in technology companies

Technology companies have always had a place in GIC’s portfolio. In recent years, as technology has disrupted traditional industries and spawned new businesses, our investing and organisational efforts in this area have also expanded.

In this feature article, we answer questions on how we approach and invest in technology.