Why US Startups Expand to Singapore

It’s no secret that Singapore has long been the launching pad for major US companies looking to expand to Asia. In fact, Google and Amazon chose this very city as their first when expanding to the market and many others have followed suit. However, the city is no longer for only for larger, established US companies. The build up of infrastructure and local tech industry in the past decade has created an ideal environment for newer companies to come both in their earlier stages or even as a support to grow their business back home.

This was exactly what attracted Richard Werbe, founder of Studypool, when he chose to open an office in Singapore last year. Like many modern online companies, Studypool, an on-demand tutoring platform with over 2.5 million student users, is a 24/7 operation. The company is based out of Silicon Valley and the majority of the team is spread out across the Americas. Prior to expansion, Werbe recalls “we had staff, including myself, working late night and early mornings to meet the demands of our customers at all hours.” When it came time to open a second office, Werbe turned to Asia where “we could have a team there working while the rest of us sleep… this would help keep the business moving forward at the fast pace that was needed for our success.” Multiple cities were considered but after careful consideration and research, Werbe settled on Singapore.

Beyond the advantage of a different time zone, when US startups look to the expand in Asia, Singapore is an obvious choice for various reasons. With the majority of Singapore citizens bilingual in English and Malay, startups can avoid the language barriers they might experience in other cities. As an advanced city state, Singapore also offers all the technology and infrastructure one would expect from back home in Silicon Valley or New York City. Also, as a city of many expats, the cultural divide between Singapore and the west feels less extreme, paving the way for smoother business operations between the two.

Since its inception, Studypool’s mission has been to transform education and give all students access to tools to help both keep them motivated in school and achieve their best. Since opening in Singapore, Studypool has not only improved its response time to customers, it has also managed to address more technical issues efficiently and grow platform capabilities, providing even more tools to students. For example, Studypool now offers comprehensive study guides for literary classics and contemporary best-selling books. Singapore has proven to be so ideal as an office location that when Werbe was contemplating where to open the first office for Apollo Club, another venture he co-founded earlier this year, Singapore was his first choice. He knew he would benefit from all the features the city has to offer plus he had already built a network of strong talent in the area.

There’s no doubt Singapore is likely to continue attracting new and growing companies thanks to its vibrant startup community. It has no shortage of VCs and early-stage investors, further stimulating the startup scene. According to Crunchbase, known dollar volume for seed-stage startups has grown twofold in just one year: from $2 billion in 2016 to $4.3 billion in 2017. Another sign of a thriving community, there are hundreds of upcoming events for startups to network with and learn from leaders.