CLA Real Estate Holdings has set up an investment firm focusing on life-sciences companies while Bitkub Ventures has formed a 50-50 joint venture with local game and entertainment operator Asiasoft.
Temasek arm sets up life-sciences investment firm
CLA Real Estate Holdings, the indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore state investor Temasek, has announced the establishment of ClavystBio, an investment firm focusing on life-sciences companies.
ClavystBio will support early-stage companies, starting with the emerging areas of cell and gene therapy, biomarkers and digital health. It will also invest in real estate and service platforms to launch and grow global life-sciences companies.
To date, the firm has already committed $220 million in investments.
The commitments are to six early-stage companies, namely Allay Therapeutics, CoV Biotechnology, Engine Biosciences, Hummingbird Bioscience, Medisix Therapeutics and Sunbird Bio, according to the announcement.
The firm has also committed to three venture partners, including global venture firm Lighthouse Ventures, US healthcare investor Polaris Partners and US- and Singapore-based investor Accelerator Life Science Partners.
“Our unique model brings funding, partnerships and an optimal physical environment to life-sciences companies, so that they can accelerate their pathway to commercialisation and help benefit end-users or patients more quickly,” said ClavystBio CEO Dr Christopher Laing.
ClavystBio’s board is chaired by Dr Fidah Alsagoff, joint head of the Singapore enterprise development group and head of life-sciences at Temasek.
Bitkub teams up with game developer Asiasoft
Bitkub Ventures, the venture capital unit of Thailand’s most popular cryptocurrency platform, Bitkub, and local gaming and entertainment operator Asiasoft have formed a 50-50 joint venture with a registered capital of 20 million baht ($545,196), according to data retrieved by DealStreetAsia.
The partners aim to develop end-to-end solutions for blockchain gaming from the new outfit.
The entity, now registered as Kub Play Entertainment, aims to create a hybrid GameFi business model that will allow players to perform in-game quests while other users, especially crypto traders, can make returns from the gameplay, according to a statement from Asiasoft.
Managed by Kub Play, Astronize, another Bitkub-Asiasoft establishment, which was announced in March, is set to become Southeast Asia’s first nonfungible tokens (NFT) trading platform where players can claim NFTs in exchange for their game assets. With the purpose of transforming conventional games to play-and-earn hybrid, the setup seeks to purchase game copyrights from developers for Astronize.
The inception of the company will be completed in the next two months and the platform is said to be available for service this month.
Poised to become the first GameFi platform in Thailand to launch utility tokens, expectedly within 2023, the partners are also aiming for a global expansion.