MAS Approval and What It Meant Personally

"We took a longer time, there was a bit of roundabout, but the fact that we actually made like two or three times on whatever investment amount we did in the beginning - that for me was a very pivotal moment. Just because we didn't give up. The line between success and failure is so thin. So the impact of being a VC space is that you really can influence the technology founders that you back." - Beatrice Lion

Fresh out of the studio, Beatrice Lion, the chief executive officer and global partner from True Global Ventures, shares the remarkable story of how she became one of the youngest fund managers and the backstory to secure Singapore's Capital Markets Service license from MAS equivalent to Sequoia & Andreessen Horowitz's RIA licence in the US. Beatrice begins with her unconventional career journey from university straight into venture capital in 2017 and details TGV's investment thesis of backing only tested serial entrepreneurs across AI and blockchain applications. Beatrice offers her perspectives on the convergence of AI and crypto, the evolution of stablecoins as crypto's killer app, corporate treasury strategies such as Michael Saylor's Strategy with Bitcoin and Ethereum Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs), and why TGV maintains their performance-focused philosophy of keeping fund sizes at $100-200 million rather than chasing larger management fees. Last but not least, Beatrice shares what great would look like for TGV in the future.

Episode Highlights:
[00:00] Quote of the Day by Beatrice Lyon
[01:00] Introduction: Beatrice Lyon, CEO of True Global Ventures
[04:27] Supporting portfolio companies through business development
[05:03] Successful turnaround story and investment recovery
[08:30] How she take the CEO role as operational glue among partners
[11:25] MAS approval process for Capital Markets Licence (CMS)
[13:00] TGV fund structure: four, five, six overview
[14:55] Investment thesis: AI and blockchain applications globally
[16:01] Focus on serial entrepreneurs, not first-timers
[17:39] CMS license removes 20% constraint limitations
[20:54] The rationale behind applying for broad licenses
[26:57] Secondary market opportunities and liquidation preferences
[30:18] Blockchain landscape evolving toward financial applications
[34:49] Private stock tokenization and where it is heading
[38:27] Stablecoin as killer app for crypto
[39:09] AI agents settling payments with stablecoins
[42:25] Different regulatory approaches across jurisdictions
[43:36] Corporate crypto treasury strategies beyond Bitcoin, Ethereum DATs and Solana
[48:35] 80-20 rule for portfolio company treasuries
[50:37] Four-year crypto cycles may be extending
[54:31] What does great look like for TGV
[59:09] Closing

Profile: Beatrice Lion, Chief Executive Officer and General Partner, True Global Ventures: https://www.tgv4plus.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatricelion/

Podcast Information: Bernard Leong hosts and produces the show. The proper credits for the intro and end music are "Energetic Sports Drive." G. Thomas Craig mixed and edited the episode in both video and audio format.

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