Aardvark Therapeutics has been developing as its lead program, ARD-101, a first-in-class therapeutic with a novel mechanism of action. Early on, the Vickers team demonstrated a deep understanding of the scientific rationale and recognized the profound opportunity represented when it was less apparent to others. Aardvark has since made significant progress over a relatively short period of time in no small part due to the valued support from Vickers throughout the process. Beyond the initial lead program, company has now created a broad pipeline of additional promising therapeutics, and this expansion was facilitated by the vision and measured support of multiple members of the Vickers team.
As a founder, it has been refreshing to engage with an investor that is creative, nimble, responsive, and constructive in the growth of the company with the flexibility to recognize new opportunities when they manifest. Jeff Chi has been a most valued board member that has thoughtfully contributed to the strategic planning for the company and Vickers analysts have frequently contributed with scientific and competitive insights as well as facilitating networking opportunities.
— Dr Tien Lee, CEO, Aardvark Therapeutics
Vickers was our first institutional investor - a testament to willingly do objective diligence and make first bets based on a combination of complex variables. We are incredibly fortunate to have Finian and his team’s hands-on support throughout our journey.
The experience we have had with Vickers has been like no other. It has been more like being part of a family, rather than as a mere investment as is often the case with other VCs. They are always in your corner, trying to grow the company for all. In addition, the ongoing contributions of Finian, Khalil, Chris Ho, and many others, to our business have helped to both shape the direction and truly raise the value of our business.
There is a depth of experience at Vickers deployed to first listen, and then provide advice with an underlying presence of support. Their role on our Board of Directors has been invaluable, both Finian and Chris are an important touch point which our management team has come to rely upon.
– John Redfern & Paul Cairns – Founders, Eavor Technologies Inc.
Vickers has played a critical part in entomo’s success right from the outset. Vickers recognized the potential in our technology early on and has been a part of the journey ever since. Not only have they brought funding, but they have been a strategic partner and are involved in perfecting the vision, strategy, operations, and more.
The entire Vickers team, particularly Dr. Finian Tan and Dr Damian Tan as Chairman and Director of the board respectively have been an inspiration. Their mentorship has contributed immensely to the organization’s vision and strategy. Vickers’ branding has also helped entomo gain the trust of our customers and investors.
Vickers has been involved in key strategic decision making at the board level and has played an important role in making entomo a profitable business. They bring in the domain knowledge and experience while offering guidance that is right for our organisation and to the problem at hand. The guidance officered is not just in strategy, but also in network, operations, and more, while ensuring the founding team has the freedom to make independent decisions. Vickers shares the passion that entomo has towards building solutions that transform people and businesses.
As Vickers has the expertise in guiding and mentoring a spectrum of technology companies and startups to succeed, their guidance and mentoring are always timely and relevant to stage of growth the company is at. Vickers has played a key role in many instances where their support and insights have helped entomo succeed. An example of this is how Vickers had backed entomo during the testing times of the pandemic where the market came to a standstill in a matter of weeks, but Vickers showed strong trust in our ability to turn around and come out victorious which we eventually did with the business growing substantially during and post-COVID.
—Ravee Ramamoothie, Founder and Group CEO at entomo
Vickers has been a fantastic partner. Their involvement feels more like an inside part of the company than an outsider investor. As a co-founder, I found it very refreshing the level of technical and financial due diligence that Vickers did prior to making their investment. They were by far the most thorough investor in this regard. They have been proactive with the development of financial models around the growth of the company and provided insight into a range of financial vehicles that may be used at various stages of the company’s growth.
They have also provided sound guidance with respect to the evolution of activities and access to their investor network through the annual portfolio company reviews. In particular, Xinhong Lim and Petros Farah have been involved on a weekly basis with respect to finance and planning discussions. Their inputs and efforts have been tremendously valuable pro-bono inputs to the company.
I would add that I am extremely impressed with the breadth of the Vickers team both technically and financially and am equally impressed by the breadth and quality of the various portfolio companies supported by the Vickers funds. The entire Vickers team is both professional and a pleasure with which to interact. From what I have seen of Vicker’s portfolio companies, each has a goal of providing a positive human impact. While the technologies vary tremendously, each company has an inspiring vision. This aligns fundamentally with the vision of Lumitron Technologies where our goal is to transform the detection and treatment of disease and in doing so create the clinical platforms that will eliminate the need to ever remove a breast or a prostate again.
— Dr. Chris Barty, Executive Director/CTO, Lumitron Technologies
As CEO of RWDC Industries, I am grateful for our association as a portfolio company partner of Vickers Venture Partners. Working with Dr. Finian Tan, Dr. Xinhong Lim and the entire Vickers team has been, and continues to be a significantly positive experience for our business.
Our experience with Vickers Venture Partners involves their significant contribution beyond the actual funds they have invested. Vicker’s expertise, association with other global investors, and their extensive technical and business knowledge has resulted in their ability to provide coaching for myself and our team, guidance with regard to our business strategy and connection with a large number of potential investors.
The Vickers team has been able to quickly understand our business and the challenges we face, and they have provided invaluable guidance and support throughout the early stages of our business development.
What really differentiates Vickers Ventures, is their commitment to our success on a personal level. Dr. Finian Tan has worked consistently to help us achieve our goals, and has been willing to commit significant blocks of their senior leader’s time to help with specific projects. Vickers has even enabled full-time involvement of specific key leaders from their team for full-time senior staff assignments in RWDC’s business.
Vickers extensive expertise combined with their deep understanding of business building has enabled us to make significant progress in our journey that would not have been possible without their involvement and support. We enthusiastically recommend Vickers Ventures Partners to anyone seeking a partner who can engage and help in any stage of business. They are a top-tier venture capital firm with a proven track record of success, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with them. If you are a business owner looking for a partner to help you achieve your goals, we strongly encourage you to consider reaching out to Vickers Ventures.
—Dr. Daniel Carraway, Co-Founder and CEO
Vickers has always been SIMO’s supporter and believer, not just in good times but especially someone we can rely on in bad times as well. As a founder, our journey to success is unpredictable, but Vickers partners have supported us through these tough times with strategic brainstorming, key partner introductions, and leading discussions with existing shareholders to support the company's funding needs. Finian is also a super fan and supported us in many ways to guide our growth and making sure we remain focused. SIMO could not have done it without Vickers’ contribution and guidance, they are one of our best investors and board members. We’re glad to be part of the Vickers’ family.
—Jing Liu, CEO of SIMO
Vickers has been instrumental in growing SiSaf from a start-up to a commercial-stage company that is now at the forefront of RNA delivery innovation. Vickers was among the first to recognize the enormous potential of SiSaf’s technology. And since they understand the specific requirements of Biotech R&D, I have been able to rely on their consistent support, not only as a lead investor in several funding rounds but also as active board members.
In 2019, before Covid vaccines demonstrated the power of RNA-based medicines, I made the strategic decision to focus the company’s R&D on RNA delivery and therapies. While some considered this a risky bet, Vickers backed my decision unreservedly This demonstrated their foresight as this strategic pivot resulted in a significant increase in SiSaf’s value. This is just one example of how Vickers supported my vision and the company’s progress.
—Dr Suzanne Saffie-Siebert, Founder & CEO, SiSaf Ltd
Vickers Venture is more than an investor. They are a business partner and literally have become a member of the core team. While many VCs often say that they offer more than money, sadly most do very little beyond funding a company.
Vickers talks the talk and walks the walk. They have incredible extensive networks of relationships and willingly open all these up to the companies in their portfolio. They guide, advice and counsel when the need arises and most importantly help give clarity in the myriad areas of growing world-class companies; like team composition, go to market strategies, introductions to both potential clients as well as strategic sources of funding should the need arise. This is because they know the space, they have been there and done it before and they been overwhelmingly successful at it!
—Joo Seng Wong, Founder & CEO, Sparks Systems and Co-founder, M-DAQ
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Having Vickers as our shareholders has been one of the best things to happen to Vivance in the last three years. Prior to Vickers investing, the team invested a significant amount of time to fully understand our market and product, which proved critical in securing an oversubscribed investment round. Vickers shares our vision for bringing disruptive innovation to kidney care and has been an exceptional partner throughout our journey of taking our product to the next phase of the clinical trials.
Jeff and Finian from Vickers have played instrumental roles in our success, leveraging their extensive experience and knowledge of the start-up world. We are fortunate to have tapped into Vickers' network of investors, and their support has been invaluable in raising subsequent rounds of financing.
Moreover, the US-based members of Vickers' team, especially Mhamed and Xinhong, have been exceptional in providing us with market intelligence and acting as our ambassadors in the US. This is particularly important for us, as the US market is a key market for our product.
Vickers has been extremely supportive of our senior management team, acting as an extended team member with whom we can have candid conversations at any time. We attribute a significant part of our success and progress to Vickers' involvement.
—Suresh Venkataraya, CEO, Vivance
