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- NUS Enterprise’s first Silicon Valley office will provide market intelligence to help startups refine product-market fit and accelerate international expansion
SINGAPOREJune 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NUS Enterprise, the innovation and entrepreneurship arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), today announced that U.S. venture capital firms Playground Global and Matter Venture Partners have officially joined the NUS Venture Capital Programme, which has a total size of 793 million yuan (approximately US$117 million). Through this collaboration, NUS’s deep-tech startups will receive comprehensive support to drive business implementation and achieve global scaling.
NUS Enterprise’s newly upgraded i³ building – a launchpad for innovation and impact
The United States boasts the world’s largest and most mature deep-tech ecosystem, with Silicon Valley serving as a global hub for innovation and venture capital activity. In 2024, startups in the San Francisco Bay Area raised a total of 610 billion yuan (approximately US$90 billion), accounting for 57% of total U.S. startup funding[1]. By plugging into this ecosystem, NUS’s startups can connect with top-tier deep-tech investors, industry experts, and established pathways for bringing cutting-edge technologies to global markets.
Playground Global, based in Silicon Valley, is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurial teams at the forefront of engineering and science, with highly forward-looking technology research and development. The firm excels at helping breakthrough technologies grow into globally competitive enterprises. Approximately one-fifth of its portfolio companies have become unicorns, and it manages assets of 11.5 billion yuan (approximately US$1.7 billion), focusing on startups in next-generation computing, automation, energy, and synthetic biology.
Bruce Leak, General Partner at Playground Global, said: “We are honored to partner with NUS Enterprise to support the next generation of deep-tech entrepreneurs in Singapore. Building globally competitive technology companies requires long-term funding support, deep technical expertise, and an international resource network. We look forward to accompanying more entrepreneurs on their path to global expansion.”
Matter Venture Partners complements Playground Global with its deep technical expertise and a global resource platform spanning Silicon Valley, Asia, and key industrial ecosystems worldwide, including Taiwan (China), Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates. The firm primarily collaborates with hard-tech entrepreneurial teams developing advanced semiconductors, electronics, and physical AI innovations. The Matter team provides hands-on support and strategic partnership resources, helping entrepreneurs navigate supply chains, achieve mass production, and bring complex technologies to market, with particular strengths in robotics, advanced materials, and next-generation smart manufacturing.
Dr. Wen Hsieh, Founding Managing Partner at Matter Venture Partners, said: “The next generation of world-class hard-tech companies will emerge from cross-regional industrial ecosystems, rather than being confined to a single geography. Singapore, with its talent, capital, technology, and entrepreneurial vitality, is a key node in the global industrial network. Through this partnership with NUS Enterprise, Matter Venture Partners will match Singapore’s hard-tech entrepreneurs—who are globally oriented from the start—with collaboration resources, production networks, and market channels to help them scale.”
NUS Enterprise Establishes First Silicon Valley Office
NUS Enterprise also announced that it will establish its first global office at Playground Global’s 70,000-square-foot incubation space, “The Studio,” in Silicon Valley. This incubation base is equipped with wet and dry labs, advanced prototyping workshops, precision machining equipment, and other specialized infrastructure, helping NUS’s deep-tech startups find a foothold in this world-class innovation ecosystem, thereby accelerating product development, completing technology validation, and efficiently expanding into global markets.
This office is a key component of NUS Enterprise’s strategy to bridge Singapore’s innovation ecosystem with core global markets. The team leverages market insights and hands-on experience gained from overseas operations to feed back into Singapore’s local education, research, and technology transfer systems, creating a virtuous cycle that continuously empowers startups in Singapore and around the world.
Dr. Tan Sian Wee, NUS Senior Vice President (Innovation and Enterprise), commented: “Establishing partnerships with Playground Global and Matter Venture Partners opens a high-quality pathway for NUS startups to expand into the United States. Entrepreneurs who start from research need investors who deeply understand deep-tech incubation and scaling pathways. With these partnership resources and the Silicon Valley office, our startup projects can seize industry opportunities early, test against real customer needs, optimize product-market fit, and gradually grow into leaders in their respective fields.”
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[1]https://startupgenome.com/ecosystems/silicon-valley |