Temasek Boosts Cybersecurity and Biotech Investments

Cybersecurity and biotech startups got a boost in their latest funding rounds from Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek.

Temase led a $68 million financing round into New York-based cybersecurity company BlueVoyant, the services firm said last week. BlueVoyant plans to expand its third-party cyber risk services, including providing investment portfolio and supply chain defense.

The sovereign wealth fund was also included in a financing round into Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Glympse Bio, which said last week that it secured $46.7 million from a group of investors led by venture capital fund Section 32. Other investors include Gilead Sciences.

A Temasek director, Cayce Denton, will join the board of directors at Glympse Bio, where the funding will go toward the development of the startup’s biosensor platform for fibrotic diseases, including infectious illnesses.

The sovereign wealth fund has previously made wagers into both biotech and cybersecurity companies. Last month, Temasek led a $250 million private placement into German biotech company BioNTech, which is generating a coronavirus vaccine with pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Temasek is worth about S$313 billion (US$225 billion) in fiscal year 2019.

Investor interest in the biotech sector has surged around the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. In the past 12 months, iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF surged 38%, while the S&P 500 is up 8.4% year over year.

In 2018, Temasek and telecommunications company Starhub set up Singapore-based Ensign InfoSecurity to meet global demand for cybersecurity services, which it projected will grow to $2 trillion last year. It’s also an investor in Israeli cybersecurity company Sygnia, as well as venture capital group Team8.