Cloud Computing on Ulitzer

Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) has invested some money in the Singaporean government's Clearbridge Accelerator, a tech incubator supported by the country's National Research Foundation (NRF).

The Clearbridge Accelerator was launched in 2009 to focus on "emerging and disruptive technologies." It has four current tenants in the medical and biotech fields.

The amount of Draper's investment has not been disclosed (sigh), but he was described as a "super-angel" in a statement from the incubator. Additionally, incubator managing director Johnson Chen noted that Draper's "extensive networks will be crucial in helping (us) enter global markets." Chen said the incubator plans to double the number of its tenants within the next year.

Clean-Cut Opportunity
Singapore is considered to be the least corrupt country in the world (along with Denmark and New Zealand), according to Transparency International (TI). This clearly distinguishes it from its neighbors.

Among other ASEAN (Southeast Asian) countries, only Malaysia ranks as high as the fourth tier in TI's ranking, coming in at #56, alongside Namibia and Turkey.

Singapore is also, by far, the wealthiest ASEAN nation, with a per-person income higher than that of the United States. Malaysia finishes second in the region by this measure as well, albeit with a per-person income less than one-third that of Singapore.

The nation-state's small population of about 5 million people limits its overall economic heft, so investors here are clearly looking for global market opportunities, as Chen's statement noted.

This is unlike the situation in Asian giants China and India - and increasingly in ASEAN neighbor Indonesia, whose 230 million people rank it fourth in the world (after the US and above Brazil). The other large ASEAN nations - the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia - also have potentially lucrative local markets.

For now, small, clean-cut Singapore has drawn the specific interest of a major Silicon Valley VC firm. It will be fun to watch how much other capital follows Draper's investment, and whether creating a small footprint in Singapore will lead to door-openings throughout the region.