The final of the Venture Capital Case Competition – Southeast Asia’s first venture capital-focused case competition hosted by undergraduates - was successfully held at SMU on 26 October 2019.

Organised by the Asia Private Equity Club @ SMU (APECS), an interest club for students to learn about the private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) industries, the competition aimed to showcase the business acumen, analytical abilities and decision-making skills of the participants. Opened to undergraduates from universities in Singapore, the event was supported by SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) and Protégé Ventures, Southeast Asia's first student venture fund established by Kairos ASEAN and IIE.

More than 40 teams took part in the preliminary round from 27 September to 6 October. Each team was assigned a start-up from the fintech, consumer goods, or food and beverage industries. Team members had to decide whether or not to invest in the start-up by coming up with an investment thesis, industry and company analyses, valuation and exit strategies. The judging panel, comprising APECS’ Academic Director Dr Ang Ser Keng and Protégé Ventures’ Managing Partner Lionell Loh, selected six teams for the finals.

In preparation for the finals, the teams had a question-and-answer round with the founders of a fictitious start-up PETech.AI, to obtain pertinent information about the company which would help the teams decide whether or not to invest in it.

During the final on 26 October, the teams had to make a pitch to the judging panel on why PETech.AI deserves or not to receive venture capital funding. The panel comprised of Dr Ang Ser Keng, Mr Harold Au (Investment Manager, Wavemaker Partners), Mr Kelvin Leung (Investment Associate, Openspace Ventures) and Tao Huang (Managing Partner, Protege Ventures). The teams were graded based on the questions they asked PETech.AI and their investment rationale.

After much deliberation by the judges, the top three teams walked away with a total cash prize of SGD$6,000. All the finalists were given internship application opportunities at the judges’ firms.

Team JT Capital from SMU, seen here with APECS’ Academic Director Dr Ang Ser Keng (second from right), emerged as the champion in VCCC’19. The team members were (L-R) Daniele Aidan Haadi Tan, Nevin Tan Jian Ming, and Yee Jin Koi.

“We decided to participate in the competition as we wanted to take on the role of a venture capitalist and learn how to select and evaluate promising start-ups using financial and fundamental analysis. The interesting side to the case this year was in analysing adjustments you would make to the term sheet that is negotiated with the start-up's founders. This is an essential part of every VC deal and we were glad that we managed to experience that thought process. One of the challenges we faced, as with any early-stage start-up, was the lack of information about the firm. To overcome this, we had to make use of any research resources we had from our school's library databases and learn to be as resourceful as possible.” – Nevin Tan, Team JT Capital

Mr Harold Au from Wavemakers Partners (far left) presented Team CJJK from SMU with the first runner-up prize. The team comprised of (L-R), Jean Anne Marie Wang, Tan Kian Liong, Cavyn Chong and Ng Jun Hong.

“My team and I decided to participate in this competition as we wanted to see how we could apply the knowledge that we’ve learnt about VCs over the past semester. We learnt how VC pitches flow and more crucially, what makes a good pitch. The interview with the founders of PETech.AI was really insightful for us too, as it showed us how important it was to make a pitch. A key challenge was the short time that we had to prepare a good pitch, and we overcame this by having strict timelines and regular check-ins to ensure that the team members were all on the same page.” – Cavyn Chong, Team CJJK

Team Renaissance Ventures from NTU, which comprises (L-R) Ho Li Ting Valerie, Tan Jie Hui, Gautam Mukesh Manek, and Chan Chia Ler, came in second runner-up. With them in the photo was Mr Kelvin Leung from Openspace Ventures (far left).

“APECS VCCC 2019 was a great learning journey for our team and it provided us with valuable insights into the world of VC. From the outset, we were eager to participate in this competition as it offered a rare opportunity to further our interest in and knowledge of the VC scene and meet experienced professionals in this field. Even though the competition was near our mid-term examinations, we are all glad that we chose to embark on this fulfilling journey. Overall, VCCC was a great learning experience for us, and we will definitely recommend it to students interested in the VC scene.” – Chan Chia Ler, Team Renaissance Ventures

APECS would like to extend its appreciation to all the finalists and the audience who attended the final.

APECS will be organising the Leveraged Buyout Case Competition (LBOCC) in May 2020. Please check out APECS’ LinkedIn page for information on LBOCC and of future events.