Ever since its entry to Southeast Asia (SEA) through its launch in Singapore a few years ago, SeedLegals has made some exciting milestones in the country.

In a conversation with e27, Hsiang Low, Head of Asia-Pacific, SeedLegals, explains the company’s recent participation in the IMDA SPARK Programme and how it has helped in their expansion into Singapore.

“Last year, SeedLegals was onboarded into the SPARK Programme. It means we have that endorsement from IMDA that we are one of the companies that it recognised. That enables us to service the startups that are within the community,” he explains.

Originating from the UK, SeedLegals is a one-stop platform to help founders handle all the legal matters involved in building a company, from securing an investment to building a team. In addition to providing the templates for the legal documents that founders might need, they also have access to the data, educational content, and networking that they need to grow their company.

Run by a team of 150 people, outside of its home country, the company is now operating in Singapore, Hong Kong, France and Ireland. It said it has onboarded 50,000 companies and 10,000 investors in the platform.

In his recent visit to Singapore, Anthony Rose, Founder & CEO, SeedLegals, explains to e27 the key learnings that the company found regarding the differences between its users in Singapore and the UK.

Also Read: Why SEA’s startup ecosystem is making a strong case for legaltech

“In the UK, there are fantastic government tax advantages for angel investors, but there are no government programmes for startups. So, you find founders are very scrappy. To find angel investors, there’s nothing to help them get started themselves. So they learn very quickly how to find angel investors and close the investment very quickly,” he says.

Meanwhile, in Singapore, things are a bit different, according to the CEO.

“There are many generous government programmes from the S$50,000 programme to the S$250,000 programme, but afterwards, there is not the same tax incentive for investors. What I found in Singapore is that companies get started with the government programmes, which are fantastic, and when they get out of those programmes, then there’s [this nuance like] leaving home suddenly, and you have to fend for yourself. There’s a bit of learning,” Rose explains.

“So, there’s a gap between government grants and readiness for a VC [funding]. And that’s exactly the space that SeedLegals fills because it helps those founders find angel investors which are the necessary next step,” he continues.

Rose stresses the gap between startup grants and VC funding that can be filled by angel investors, but he sees that in Singapore, finding an angel investor is not that easy. “I think that space in Singapore is underdeveloped compared to the UK.”

The differences between their UK- and Singapore-based users also lie in the verticals that they are working on: their users in Singapore tend to work on deep tech due to the strong government support in the sector.

Also Read: Justika nets seed funding to connect people who need legal services to lawyers in Indonesia

Helping startups go through tough times

Today, the SEA startup ecosystem is facing what is known as the tech funding winter. We ask SeedLegals if this is affecting their clients and how they are using the company’s services.

Rose begins by stating he would like to take a contrarian point of view that today is a “bad time” to fundraise.

“Firstly, if you’ve got some mission in mind, such as making some new device, then you either going to work out how to get the funding, or you have to give up on your idea and put it on hold. But that’s not really an option. So what you need to do is adapt,” he says.

He goes on to explain the concept of “agile fundraising” that SeedLegals says it has enabled.

“Once upon a time, I was going to hire 10 people. I need to raise like one and a half million dollars … but that’s really difficult. So, instead of having to do a funding round every 12 to 18 months, and spend ages looking for investors … with the tools that we have on SeedLegals, you can raise smaller amounts more frequently,” he says.

“[Founders] think that they have to wait for another four months to find all the other investors. But then after talking with them and actually showing them that you can just get the smaller amounts, and use that to hire developers to build the product … when you have more traction, you can go later. So fundraising has been transformed.”

Also Read: Meet the 2 SEA startups joining Allens’s legaltech accelerator

“We found that in the UK, there is now more money raised outside of the funding round than in a funding round. We’ve really pioneered that over the last four years. That is an inversion of the way startups raise. I see the same happening in Singapore thanks to the tools and platform that we provide.”

For the year 2023, the company is looking forward to further developing its tools for investors.

“The key part of our next set of things is to connect founders and investors, to make it easier for investors to find great companies to invest in, and for founders to find investors. So that’s one of the key things that we’re all working on,” he closes.

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Echelon Asia Summit 2023 is bringing together APAC’s leading startups, corporates, policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to Singapore this June 14-15. Learn more and get tickets here. Echelon also features the TOP100 stage, where startups get the chance to pitch to 5000+ delegates, among other benefits like a chance to connect with investors, visibility through e27 platform, and other prizes. Join TOP100 here.

Image Credit: SeedLegals

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