WongPartnership LLP brings its background in representing private equity funds and other financial investors to the start-up and venture capital field. It also provides its large full-service approach to the sector with multiple departments contributing to the success of the practice. The team covers the full lifecycle of start-ups and growth companies from early-stage and seed funding to growth stage financings, pre-IPO fundings and trade sales. Despite the challenging climate, it has remained active in early-stage investments, bridging loans and private credit-type financings, along with the restructuring of investments and governance issues. The department remains primarily focused on investors, including private equity funds that have moved into the venture and growth stage investment spaces. The highly-rated Kyle Lee and Sin Wei Ong lead the team and remain noted for their experience in fintech. Jolynn Lim is another key contact.
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+65 6517 8663
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Profile

Profile

Work Department

Mergers & Acquisitions; WPGrow: Start up/ Venture Capital

Position

Jolynn Lim is a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions and the WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital Practices.

Career

Her main practice areas are corporate mergers and acquisitions, start-up and venture capital matters, and general corporate and commercial transactions. Jolynn represents investors, founders and emerging growth companies on corporate transactions across the fundraising spectrum from equity and bridge financing rounds, secondary acquisitions to exits.

Jolynn is a member of the core working group for the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA), which is a suite of standard-form documents for venture capital fundraising transactions in Singapore. She also assists with the teaching of a venture capital financing class in a corporate law course offered at a top Singapore university.

Jolynn was seconded to a large multinational American law firm in New York in 2023-2024 and she was involved in private-equity transactional and general corporate matters while she was there.

Jolynn graduated from the National University of Singapore and is admitted to the Singapore Bar.

Relevant Experience:

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

Start-up / Venture Capital

  • Biofourmis, a virtual care and digital medicine company in their US$300 million Series D investment round led by General Atlantic. The funding round increased Biofourmis' valuation to US$1.3 billion, surpassing unicorn status.
  • A global investment company headquartered in Singapore in its early, mid and late stage investments across various sectors such as med-tech, agri-tech and payment services.
  • Openspace Ventures' Series A investment in Nutrition Technologies, this deal received an "Honourable Mention" in the Asian-Mena Counsel Deals of the Year Awards 2019.

Mergers and Acquisitions / Private Equity

  • The disposal of 800 Super Holdings to a Keppel consortium comprising Keppel Asia Infrastructure Fund and Keppel Infrastructure Holdings.
  • KKR Credit Advisors (US) LLC and its affiliates in connection with the debt and equity financing of 8S Capital Holdings in the voluntary conditional cash offer for all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares of 800 Super Holdings.
  • 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.

Languages

English

Content supplied by WongPartnership LLP

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘WongP delivers a high quality service as a Singapore foreign counsel that also understands the unique characteristics of a start-up venture. Their willingness to go above and beyond in providing their services to early start-up founders, who typically have never faced a fundraising before, really helps in facilitating a smooth transaction.’

  • ‘We worked with Kyle Lee who really showed his expertise in dealing with early to mid-stage VC transactions. We would also like to commend an associate, Alina Liew, who provided exceptional support during the course of transactions with her knowledge and skills.’

  • ‘The team is responsive and accommodating. They are very familiar with start-up transactions hence can give the market view to help us navigate the transaction.’

  • ‘Kyle Lee understands the scene well and has been a great help for us in navigating the transaction.’

  • ‘WongP assigns their team effectively. The associates are able to manage the work and partners are hands-on too and would attend the matters directly when necessary. Therefore, it is cost effective and work could be done seamlessly and efficiently.’

  • ‘Kyle Lee is very experienced in this sector and clients could rest assured that they are in good hands if he is in charge. Kyle is a very well-rounded lawyer, who looks at the big picture of the transaction and also focuses on the detail. He is also a very pleasant person to work with and able to stay composed in a demanding situation and ensure high quality work even in a tight timeline.’

  • 'Their expertise and dedication ensured that each transaction was handled with precision and care. WongPartnership’s unwavering commitment and thorough approach have made them an invaluable partner in our investment endeavours. The exceptional team, led by Kyle Lee, brought unique strengths and insights to each deal, making them the go-to choice for our investment activities.’
  • ‘The exceptional team at Wong Partnership, led by Kyle Lee, truly stands out in the startup and growth investment deals space. Kyle's strategic vision and leadership are complemented by the unique strengths of his team members.'

Key clients

  • Axinan (Igloo)
  • TripAdvisor
  • GGV Capital
  • Wavemaker Partners
  • Openspace Ventures
  • Cercano Management Asia
  • Polisea
  • Little Farms
  • Broom International
  • Jungle Ventures
  • Northstar Group
  • Red Date (Hong Kong) Technology
  • Xora Innovation
  • Heliconia Capital
  • Argor Capital

Work highlights

Advised TripAdvisor on the restructuring of its investment in Eatigo International (the largest restaurant discount booking platform in ASEAN).
Advised Wavemaker Partners and Surge Ventures II in relation to the trade sale of their portfolio company, Pencil Technologies.
Acted for Openspace Ventures as co-lead investor in regional insurtech Igloo's $36m pre-series C funding round.