Singapore’s GBCI Ventures to develop US$100M worth of Smart City

Singapore-based GBCI Ventures (GBCI) has announced a USD$100 million smart city development fund, which will be directed towards a variation of technologies from artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, big data, IoT, to virtual reality (VR).

GBCI aims to cultivate and grow smart cities ecosystem by supporting startups in the early or later stages. GBCI will take an active role to provide these startups with knowledge know-how, access to technology, financial investment, mentorship, and go-to-market support.

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What differentiates this fund, the company claimed, is the formation of mutually beneficial strategic alliances through mergers and acquisitions and the development of a smart metropolis for the future.

The fund aims to move beyond the return of investment in technology and finance, by assisting with the engagement of governments, organizations, and businesses that come together to develop smart cities.

“The dawn of smart city evolution brings economic progress and people are able to enjoy a higher quality of life and better urban services in the ecosystem. This is our vision, especially for companies that can contribute to the development and building of sustainable smart cities for future generations,” said Douglas Gan, CEO and Co-founder of GBCI.

The concept of smart cities allow citizens to access real infrastructure services like parking, traffic conditions, electricity, and water, all in real time. The future is in developing complete intelligent systems, for example, safety, transport, environmental cleanliness, utilities management, and disaster management, all to operate optimally and efficiently.

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“GBCI strives to give city dwellers a futuristic and an eco-friendly urban lifestyle using AI as the core framework for building smart cities.GBCI invests in AI, robotics, big data, IoT and VR with the plan to be at the forefront to roll out smart cities,” said Lee Changjin, General Partner and Co-founder of GBCI Ventures.