Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital

Finance & Investment

Next Intake: 4 Jun 2025 (Wed)

Basic
SkillsFuture
Full Certificates

Next course starts on

4 Jun 2025 (Wed) See Full Schedule

Fee

SGD13,080* (as low as SGD1,524 after maximum funding) Learn More

Duration

2 Days per module; Day 1: 9:00am - 5:00pm; Day 2: 9:00am - 6:00pm.

Level

Basic

Who Should Attend

Entrepreneurs and business professionals interested to understand how Venture Capitalists (VCs) operate to better prepare or differentiate their companies for investments by VCs.
Finance professionals interested to equip themselves with a comprehensive appreciation of the Venture Capital industry and its practices.

Pre-requisites:

Participants should have at least 2 years of working experience with interest in Venture Capital management/ practices; Tertiary qualifications.

Overview

From 2017 to 2019, the number of family offices in Singapore jumped five-fold, reaching 400 by end of 2020. As of May 2024, there were 1,500 family offices in Singapore, managing more than S$90 billion worth of assets.
Among the billionaires who have set-up their family offices are Li Ka-Shing, Nicky Oppenheimer, Sergey Brin, Mukesh Ambani & Ray Dalios.

As the number of venture capital firms & family offices in Singapore grow, so does the demand for talent in this VC sector. To address this gap, this holistic Advanced Certificate is set out to increase talent and competency levels in family offices and venture capital firms.

A learning program that combines both experiential and practical knowledge, the Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital (VC) provides an excellent foundation for financial professionals who aim to get a comprehensive appreciation of the VC industry and for entrepreneurs or business professionals to equip themselves with the core skills to better prepare their companies for investments by VCs.

This six-module advanced certificate program adopts a comprehensive approach to learning different aspects of operation in a venture capitalist firm. Discussions include global case studies from top global venture capital firms such as Accel, Softbank, Temasek, Sistema, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital, Rakuten Ventures, Tiger Global and Sequoia enable participants to better appreciate the global environment VCs operate in.

Learning Objectives

Broaden and deepen your understanding of key concepts commonly used in venture capital firms such as due diligence, venture creation, term sheet and portfolio management.
Application-oriented pedagogies incorporating practical learning experiences through in-class activities and discussion using a diverse range of case studies across multiple jurisdictions and cultures.
Developing the proficiency in identification and construction of an investment framework to evaluate the investment feasibility and calculate the potential returns of a project.
Acquire skills and knowledge to evaluate and determine a valuation for a start-up.
Enable mid-career individuals, including those in employment, to make career switches to join family offices and venture capital firms.

Topic/Structure

Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital Module 1: Market Overview and Global Perspectives

Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital Module 2: Investment Strategies, Framework and Techniques

Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital Module 3: Common Valuation Techniques and Methodologies

Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital Module 4: Due Diligence Techniques and Methodologies

Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital Module 5: Portfolio Management Plan and Framework

Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital Module 6: Exit Strategies

Assessment

There will be presentation or written assessments for each module.

Participants have to meet a minimum attendance rate of 75% and have to complete all assessment(s) required by the course. Only upon meeting the minimum attendance and passing the assessment will participants be issued a Certificate of Completion.

Participants who fail the assessment will be given a chance for re-assessment at a fee of SGD100.00 (excluding prevailing GST). Each participant is allowed 1 re-assessment. The re-assessment has to be taken within 7 calendar days from the end of the course date. It will be held on a weekday specified by SMU Academy and conducted during office hours. Please note that re-assessment fees are not supported by SSG Funding.

Participants who meet the minimum attendance rate but do not achieve a pass for the assessment will be issued a Certificate of Participation.

Participants are required to bring their laptop to access the course materials, class exercises and individual assessment(s).

In order to be awarded with Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital, participants are required to complete all 6 modules (ideally in sequence) within 2 years. Please note that as much as possible, Module 6 should only be attempted after the rest of the modules have been completed.

Calculate Programme Fee

Fee Table

COMPANY-SPONSORED

PARTICIPANT PROFILE

SELF-SPONSORED

SME

NON-SME

Singapore Citizen < 40 years old

Permanent Resident

LTVP+

$3,924

(After SSG Funding 70%)

$1,524

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ ETSS Funding 20%)

$3,924

(After SSG Funding 70%)

Singapore Citizen ≥ 40 years old

$1,524

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ MCES Funding 20%)

$1,524

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ ETSS Funding 20%)

$1,524

(After SSG Funding 70%
+ MCES Funding 20%)

International Participant

$13,080

(No Funding)

$13,080

(No Funding)

$13,080

(No Funding)

All prices include 9% GST

Please note that the programme fees are subject to change without prior notice.

Post Secondary Education Account (PSEA)
PSEA can be utilised for subsidised programmes eligible for SkillsFuture Credit support. Click here to find out more.

Self Sponsored

SkillsFuture Credit: Singapore Citizens aged 25 and above may use their SkillsFuture Credits to pay for the course fees. The credits may be used on top of existing course fee funding.

This is only applicable to self-sponsored participants. Application to utilise SkillsFuture Credits can be submitted when making payment for the course via the SMU Academy TMS Portal, and can only be made within 60 days of course start date.

Please click here for more information on the SkillsFuture Credit. For help in submitting an SFC claim, you may wish to refer to our step-by-step guide on claiming SkillsFuture Credits (Individual).
Workfare Skills Support Scheme: From 1 July 2023, the Workfare Skills Support (WSS) scheme has been enhanced. Please click here for more details.

Company Sponsored

Enhanced Training Support for SMEs (ETSS)

Organisation must be registered or incorporated in Singapore
Employment size of not more than 200 or with annual sales turnover of not more than $100 million
Trainees must be hired in accordance with the Employment Act and fully sponsored by their employers for the course
Trainees must be Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents
Trainees must not be a full-time national serviceman
Trainees are eligible for ETSS funding only if their company's SME status is approved prior to the course commencement date. To verify your SME's status, please click here.

Please click here for more information on ETSS.

Absentee Payroll

Companies who sponsor their employees for the course may apply for Absentee Payroll here. For more information, please refer to:

AP Guide (Non-SME Companies)
Declaration Guide (SME Companies)

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Trainers

EDWARD TAY

Chairman of Infracrowd Capital

United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

Testimonials

I would advise anyone in my network to attend Prof Tay's courses. He doesn't do history, but focuses on what is relevant now, identifying trends before the wider market picks up on them. I have grown professionally from sessions.

Aside from his wide market knowledge, and acute eye for valuation and economics, it is also a great forum to meet a wide spectrum of market savvy professionals. Fantastic array of industry guest speakers as well.

KRISTIAN WILSON

BEDELL CRISTIN (SINGAPORE) LLP

One of the most valuable aspects of being in the course is to become a member of the larger ACVC alumni network. This is a professional course that ranks very high in terms of the breadth and depth of the networking opportunities with leaders and practitioners in the VC space, tech startup community, and even Finance and Public Sector communities. Kudos to Edward for being able to bring together learning for the larger community through the ACVC modules.

Seng Woei Yuan

Director, Technology Cluster

MP Group

Edward has conducted his course in an experimental manner that encourages learners from across different fields of disciplines to test the concepts and knowledge we have learned throughout the whole programme. His broad knowledge about the VC field provides the essential introductory outlook of the industry at the international level, while the depth of his expertise in the industry can also greatly stimulate the need for any business professional aiming to expand their perspective to act, to work on their endeavors from here on out.

Ployphaphat Philomlerdsopar

Senior Manager

Happy Sleepwear

Edward's deal-making aptitude is exceptional, especially in bridging eastern and western cultures. Venture Capital is ultimately a people's business and Edward has much to impart. I look forward to learning more from him.

Jeremy Ang

Global Strategy Director, M&A

Bytedance

The Advanced Certificate in Venture Capital programme contains comprehensive courses that feature different aspects of operation in a VC firm with real-life case studies to help today's VCs to conduct sufficiently rigorous due diligence and portfolio management. Edward is a top-notch trainer armed with the most relevant topics to cover and brings with him enormous insights into the world of venture capital. The highlights of the programme were the intellectually challenging interactions that helped develop robust understanding and applications of theoretical frameworks and concepts.

Clara Chen

Managing Partner

Singapore Deep-Tech Alliance

Thanks for inviting me as the guest speaker for this course, indeed a privilege to share my entrepreneurial journey and am heartened with the positive energy and response from everyone.

Michael Lew

Enterprise Blockchain Subcomittee

Blockchain Association Singapore

Many times, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, Individuals have very bright ideas, however, they do not execute the ideas due to the lack of funds. We encourage them to attend this course, learn in detail and apply in practice how to utilize venture capital by learned Mr Tay.

Brijesh Kumar Shukla

President

Singapore North Indian Hindu Association

I cannot think of a better person than Edward - decades of hands-on experience in venture creation and VC investment, international exposure including China, Europe, India, ASEAN, and North America. More importantly, he has a generous heart to share his valuable knowledge and insights to contribute back to the community, especially to younger generations.

Tyler Huang

Venture Partner

Transfong Ventures

Additional Details

Programme Registration

Applications will be reviewed by our Programme Admissions Committee. The decision made by the committee is final and no request to review the decision or reveal the considerations leading to the decision would be entertained.

Certified Professional Business Manager (CPBM)

This programme is part of Certified Professional Business Manager. Participants who successfully complete 6 courses/modules with a minimum of 15 training days, from a list of qualifying programmes (terms and conditions apply) within 5 years will receive the Certified Professional Business Manager (CPBM). For example: