MISGAV, Israel and SINGAPORE, February 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
On 22 February 2017, The Trendlines Group Launched a New Incubator in Singapore to Invest in Innovative Singaporean Medical and Healthcare Technologies for the Global Market. Other Partners in the Incubator are B. Braun AG, one of the World's Leading Global Medical Device Companies, Singapore Investment Bank PrimePartners Corporate Finance Holdings, and SPRING Singapore, the Enterprise Development Agency of Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The Trendlines Group Ltd. ("Trendlines") (SGX: 42T, OTCQX: TRNLY), an Israeli company focused on developing innovation-based medical and agricultural companies, announced the official opening of Trendlines Medical Singapore. Trendlines Medical Singapore will invest in and provide intense support for Singaporean start-ups developing advanced medical devices and technologies.
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Trendlines believes in the potential of the Southeast Asian market in general and Singapore, in particular. In November 2015, the Company completed an IPO on the Catalist of the SGX and was valued at SGD$100.2 million (US$70.6 million) at the close of trading on February 20. The new incubator, its first outside of Israel, deepens Trendlines' involvement in and impact on the local market.
Trendlines Medical Singapore will operate according to the same model as Trendlines' leading incubator in Israel: After a strict vetting process, Trendlines Medical Singapore will make initial cash investment into selected companies. The companies will be located in the incubator facility where they receive intense hands-on guidance and support throughout the technology and business development processes.
The structure of Trendlines Medical Singapore is also reminiscent of the Israel incubator model: Trendlines is the largest shareholder (holding approximately 76.4%). B. Braun AG holds approximately 20.0%. One of the world's largest advanced medical technology corporations, B. Braun was a cornerstone investor in the Trendlines IPO and is an investor in several of Trendlines' portfolio companies in Israel. Singapore investment bank PrimePartners Corporate Finance Holdings joined as the third partner, holding approximately 3.5% of the shares. Additionally, Trendlines Singapore Medical will receive a grant of up to SGD$2.2 million (~US$ 1.55 million) under the Incubator Development Program administered by SPRING Singapore, the enterprise development agency of the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry.
"The combination of Trendlines' expertise in early-stage investments and management of a technology incubator, the worldwide experience of B. Braun in the medical industry, the network of connections that Prime Partners brings in Singapore and Southeast Asia, and the support of SPRING, provides an excellent foundation to build on and to progress from," said Eric Loh, CEO of Trendlines Medical Singapore.
Chairman and CEO of The Trendlines Group, Steve Rhodes added: "This year, we celebrate a decade of activities of our Israeli operations, during which time we established no fewer than 75 medical and agtech start-ups, with the assistance of partners and the support of the Israel Innovation Authority (previously Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist). We carried out six exits, took two companies public, and won a number of prestigious awards. The technology incubator model we built has been proven - and continues to prove itself. Now is the right time for us to 'export' it. The Singapore market suits us very well because it is dynamic, growing, and innovation-focused, much like the Israeli market."
About The Trendlines Group
The Trendlines Group is an innovation commercialization company that invents, discovers, invests in, and incubates innovation-based medical and agricultural technologies to fulfill its mission to improve the human condition. As intensely hands-on investors, Trendlines is involved in all aspects of its portfolio companies from technology development to business building. The Trendlines Group is traded on the Singapore Exchange (SGX: 42T) and in the United States as an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) on the OTCQX® International (OTCQX: TRNLY).
Forward Looking Statement
Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the Company's actual operating results to be materially different from any historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe these risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements that contain terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "expect," "intends," "intend," "anticipate," "anticipates," "plans," "plan," to be uncertain and forward looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investor Contact Information:
Israel
Judith Kleinman
Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
judith@trendlines.com
+972-72-260-7000
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