WongPartnership LLP

FinTech; Mergers & Acquisitions; Private Equity; WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital

Kyle Lee is the Co-Head of the WPGrow: Start-Up/Venture Capital Practice. Additionally, he is also a Partner in WongPartnership LLP’s Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity and FinTech Practices.

Kyle founded the WPGrow Start-Up / Venture Capital Practice nearly a decade ago, which has since become one of the region’s most recognised legal practices in the field. Under his leadership, the practice was named “Law Firm of the Year – Private Equity & Venture Capital” by Asian Legal Business for three consecutive years (2023–2025) at the ALB Southeast Asia Law Awards. It is also the first Singapore-based practice to achieve Tier 1 rankings across all major legal publications, including Chambers and The Legal 500. Individually, Kyle is the youngest lawyer to be recognised as a Tier 1 practitioner in start-up and venture capital law by all leading independent legal directories.

Kyle’s expertise extends beyond start-up and venture capital investments to mergers & acquisitions, private equity, corporate and commercial transactions, and FinTech matters across various jurisdictions including Singapore and Indonesia. His expertise has been recognised by all leading legal publications, including The Legal 500, Chambers & Partners’ Asia Pacific Guide, IFLR1000, asialaw and Asian Legal Business. Kyle was awarded Young Lawyer of the Year at the ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2025 and was also featured as a Rising Star in ALB's Rising Stars Singapore 2022.

Aside from formal accolades, Kyle’s returning clients are the true testament to the competence of him and his team. Kyle has been praised for “bring[ing] an extremely thoughtful approach to transactions” and having “acute commercial sensibilities”. His “strategic vision and leadership are complemented by the unique strengths of his team members”. Further, he is a “lateral thinker who provides novel insights to complex problems”; a “rational counterpart who not only delivers effective legal outcomes but can also bring both sides of a negotiation closer during difficult discussions”. Clients have also commented that “what sets Kyle apart is his unique blend of technical expertise, commercial acumen, and a nuanced understanding of [his clients’] risk-reward appetite. He consistently provides timely, pragmatic, and concise advice on the issues that matter the most, allowing us to focus on the big picture while trusting that the details are well-managed.”

Given his extensive experience accumulated over nearly two decades in practice, Kyle was appointed as part of the core working group for the development of the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA) initiative founded by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. Though his involvement in VIMA, Kyle contributes effectively to the start-up / venture capital community through facilitating an increased inflow of foreign direct investment from the region into Singapore and helping effectively consummate early stage financing deals. Further, Kyle believes the model agreements may be used as an educational tool to support the learning of founders, entrepreneurs, investors, and other lawyers, who are dealing with funding matters.

In the same vein, Kyle also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at Singapore Management University’s Yong Pung How School of Law.

Kyle graduated from the National University of Singapore on the Dean’s List in 2009 after relocating to Singapore from Malaysia on the ASEAN Scholarship in 2003. Kyle’s cultural background has also buttressed a professional fluency in English, Bahasa Melayu, and Mandarin Chinese.

Relevant Experience:

Significant transactions that Kyle has been involved in include advising / acting for the following:

Start-up / Venture Capital

Ant International in the US$4.62 million series seed funding round of Gprnt, a local sustainability reporting and data platform company launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a digital platform of the Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN). Gprnt has launched the world's first nationwide utility for companies in Singapore, especially SMEs, to automatically generate basic sustainability metrics using government-sourced utilities data. Wavemaker Partners in the US$20 million series B round of Lhoopa, which forms part of a larger US$80 million funding round comprising both equity and debt components, making it one of the biggest funding rounds by a startup in the Philippines to date and one of Southeast Asia’s largest startup funding rounds in 2024. id, an Indonesian B2B fintech company in their Series B funding round led by Square Peg. The round saw participation from new investor SMBC Asia Rising Fund, co-founded by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Incubate Fund, along with existing investor Argor Capital.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Award-winning public M&A transactions such as the S$13.8 billion contested cash offer for Fraser and Neave, Limited by TCC Assets Limited and Thai Beverage Public Company Limited, in what was then the largest M&A transaction in Singapore's corporate history. Private M&A transactions such as the acquisition by CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Open End Real Estate Fund of a Grade-A office building at 79 Robinson Road for S$1.3 billion. Cross-border M&A transactions such as merger of Singapore founded digital therapeutics company Biofourmis with US-based at-home health monitoring company, CopilotIQ.

Private Equity

Private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds such as KKR & Co. as shareholder of PropertyGuru in the US$1.8 billion merger with Bridgetown 2 Holdings, a SPAC backed by Richard Li and Peter Thiel.

Fintech

FinTech providers such as banks, big data companies, ICO issuers, private share exchanges and FinTech start-ups on matters such as United Overseas Bank Limited's strategic alliance with Grab Holdings Inc. to deliver financial services to Grab Holdings Inc’s ASEAN-wide user base.

Publications:

Singapore Academy of Law – Fundraising 101: An Overview on Reserved Matters Singapore Academy of Law – Fundraising 101: Low tide in the South-East Asia venture capital and start-up ecosphere – Observations on fraud and down rounds and pay-to-play structure trends WLG Venture Capital Guide – Singapore Chapter Practical Law Private Equity and Venture Capital Global Guide – venture capital investment in Singapore VIMA Term Sheet – A road map for a start-up's relationship with investors Getting the Deal Through – Private Equity, Transactions Singapore Chapter - 2016 -2018 editions ICOs and Blockchain – different this time?