Singapore’s Farquhar VC (FVC) has invested in South Korean edutech startup Catius. In an unrelated development, Singapore-listed fintech firm Silverlake Axis has received a privatisation offer with S$ 0.36 per share cash option.
FVC invests in South Korea’s Catius
Singapore’s Farquhar VC (FVC) has joined the pre-Series A investment round of South Korean AI-powered edtech startup Catius, along with lead investors Smilegate Investments and STIC Ventures.
Catius is the second Korean startup to join its portfolio of high-growth companies, which already includes Sicpama (a food and beverage retail-tech firm). FVC invested in Sicpama in February 2024, alongside Infobank IAccel and the Daegu Center for Creative Economy & Innovation.
FVC recently inked two partnership deals, including with the Goyang Investment Authority to support the mutual advancement of startups between South Korea (Goyang Special City) and Singapore and Southeast Asia; and Twin Ventures to enable and support cross-border startup collaborations between the two countries and geographical regions.
FVC is also in discussions with various Korean government and industry stakeholders on potential fund collaborations.
Established in 2020, FVC has invested in more than 40 global startups. Its latest investments include EMERGE Group and Aevice Health. In 2024 and 2025, Farquhar plans to invest in high-growth Korean startups via its Green Future Fund.
In February this year, S&S Lab, a shared research lab and the operator of IRIS Lab in South Korea, announced a strategic partnership with Farquhar VC to foster and deepen relations among Korean and global novel food and biotech startups.
Silverlake Axis gets privatisation offer
A group led by Silverlake Axis chairman Goh Peng Ooi has made a voluntary unconditional offer to take the enterprise technology company private at 36 cents in cash per share, according to an announcement on Monday.
Alternatively, shareholders may choose to receive a combination of S$0.30 per share in cash, along with one new redeemable preference share (RPS) in the capital of the offeror, E2I, for each offer share.
The new RPS issued by the offeror will not be listed on any securities exchange and will not carry any voting or dividend rights. They will be mandatorily redeemed five years from their issuance at a redemption amount of S$0.18 per share.
E2I is wholly owned by Silverlake Axis’ controlling shareholder, Zezz FundQ (ZFPL), which holds two classes of shares: 603 million ordinary shares and 8.3 million redeemable convertible preference shares (RCPS).
Goh holds 100% of the ordinary shares in ZFPL, while the RCPS is held by Merit Sigma, a company wholly owned by a fund managed by the ASEAN private equity fund manager Ikhlas Capital. The RCPS are convertible into ordinary shares in ZFPL and have a fixed redemption date of February 28, 2025.
