Tech firms are expecting a boon from an increasing number of alternative fund launches in Singapore and across the Asia region this year.
“While there was a dip last year, the start-up market is still active in Asia and it is likely we will see more hedge funds launching this year,” said Sally Crane, managing director of trading technology provider Linedata Asia.
Figures from Hedge Fund Research indicate there were a record number of hedge funds (some 1,128) in Asia in the third quarter of 2012.
Linedata has already signed two hedge funds in Asia, including Singapore-based start-up Magenta Advisors and a well-established China-focused long/short equity fund with assets under management of US$2 billion.
“These two deals are at the opposite ends of the alternative investment spectrum – a small start-up and a large, mature hedge fund, illustrating that we are able to service everyone in this market.”
In 2013, Crane also expects many mature hedge funds at the larger end of the spectrum to be consider upgrading their technology to attract more institutional-style investment.
Crane said Magenta had signed up for Linedata’s portfolio management and middle office module of Linedata Global Hedge and also opted for Linedata to host and manage the software so that Magenta can focus on its core business rather than managing IT processes.
“Linedata offers us both the functionality and scalable technology that we require to support our business. As a start-up, it is crucial for us to have control of our costs without sacrificing the integrity of the firm,” said May Lim, COO, Magenta. “We chose Linedata’s hosted solution as it gives us peace of mind regarding the system and data availability, it takes away the need for us to perform costly data backups and allows us to make the most effective use of our time by focusing on our core business. Looking forward, the ease of adding new funds and structures to the system means that we can launch a new product offering to our investors quickly and without incurring hefty implementation costs.”