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US ride-hailing giant Uber has launched its new Asia-Pacific (APAC) regional headquarters at Frasers Tower on Cecil Street, even as it does not have any immediate plans to relaunch its services in Southeast Asia.
Market watchers believe the move could signal that more unicorns may choose the city-state as their launchpad for regional expansion, given Singapore’s favourable business environment and access to talent, reported the Business Times.
Uber, for instance, plans to hire both entry-level talent and specialists for its corporate functions and regional business teams here.
“This is an amazing talent hub for us, both in terms of people who are already part of the team, and our ability to attract and export talent across the region,” noted Amy Kunrojpanya, Asia-Pacific senior director of policy and communications at Uber.
She added that the city-state also serves as good model on “how future smart cities think”.
While the move may seem unusual, Uber’s decision to launch its regional headquarters in Singapore came as no surprise for some market watchers.
“My guess is that they have already paid the large fixed costs of… operational infrastructure, and feel they can best attract global talent (here),” said Jamus Lim, associate professor of economics at ESSEC Business School APAC.
“The local market would always have been small potatoes compared to larger regional prizes.”
Much like Uber, other unicorns also prefer the city-state as their launchpad into the region. In September 2018, payments infrastructure firm Stripe revealed that its APAC engineering hub would be in Singapore, while the Cecil Street office of Airbnb already serves as its APAC headquarters.
And more foreign unicorns are expected to set up their regional headquarters in the country, said DBS senior economist Irvin Seah.
“If you consider 10 years ago… Singapore was also perceived to be an attractive destination for big electronics companies. Now, because the drivers of the global economy have changed, it’s all about digital technology. Naturally, Singapore becomes attractive as a regional headquarters for many unicorns,” he said.
Seah attributed Singapore’s attractiveness to a “confluence of factors” that goes beyond talent, including a competitive tax regime, good data infrastructure, access to financial services and intellectual property protection.
Another key appeal is the country’s “strong focus on research and development with an open-minded regulatory regime”, said Patrick Yeo, venture hub leader at PwC Singapore.
“Singapore is known to be pragmatic and consistent with its policies which gives certainty… Singapore being small also allows the tech companies to test out their innovations effectively on a smaller scale before full global rollout,” he added.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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