August Global Partners: Backing the Future of Healthcare

Dr. Basil Lui is a Founding Partner, and Davian Sim is a Partner at August Global Partners (AGP), a Singapore-based growth-stage investment firm managing approximately US$350 million in assets, including a US$150 million flagship healthcare fund. The firm invests globally across Asia, Europe, and the United States, typically at Series B and beyond.

AGP’s leadership brings deep institutional experience shaped within Singapore’s Economic Development Board. Beyond capital, the firm supports portfolio companies through regulatory fluency, regional insight, and access to senior talent and strategic partners across Asia.

“We connect the dots,” Basil Lui said. “It’s what we’ve been trained to do.”

Healthcare Beyond Hospitals

AGP’s approach to healthcare investing deliberately challenges how the sector is commonly understood in Southeast Asia.

“In our part of the world, when people think about healthcare, they don’t think about healthtech, medtech, pharma, or biotech,” Davian Sim said. “Most innovation happens in the US or China. So healthcare investors here are often assumed to invest only in services like hospitals. That’s not how we think about it.”

Instead, AGP approaches healthcare as a technology and data business — one built around prevention, intelligent diagnostics, and long-term outcomes across the full healthcare lifecycle.

Within its portfolio, the firm consistently favors foundational infrastructure over consumer-facing brands. Rather than backing products whose success depends on distribution or marketing, AGP invests in technologies that operate beneath the surface — the infrastructure that enables scale regardless of which brand ultimately prevails.

In diagnostics, this means prioritizing companies that embed data accumulation into services already used by patients and clinicians, allowing datasets to compound naturally over time. In medical devices, it means starting with products that are already clinically validated and approved, then layering intelligence and analytics on top to expand their role within the healthcare system.

“You start with something that already works,” Basil Lui said. “Then you build intelligence around it. That’s how platforms emerge.”

A Lifecycle View of Health

AGP’s framework for healthcare investing follows a lifecycle rather than a single moment of intervention.

“Healthcare isn’t just what happens when you fall sick,” Lui said. “It’s prevention, treatment, recovery — and how you age well.”

This perspective aligns closely with policy shifts already visible in Singapore, where preventive health and precision medicine are becoming strategic priorities. As aging populations place strain on healthcare systems, governments are acting earlier — tracking health indicators, identifying risk, and reducing downstream costs.

From an investment standpoint, lifecycle platforms also create durability.

“Point solutions are limited,” Lui said. “What we look for are platforms that stay with the patient over time.”

Continuous monitoring, follow-up diagnostics, and longitudinal data matter more than one-off interventions — both for patient outcomes and for sustainable business models.

Evidence Before Narrative

Healthcare attracts powerful narratives — few more so than longevity. AGP pays attention to the space, particularly as Singapore has emerged as a regional center for aging research, drawing leading scientists, institutions, and public interest.

But attention does not equal conviction.

“Some things sound good, but they’re not backed by evidence,” Lui said. “We have not taken action in those areas.”

Where peer-reviewed data and clinical validation exist — such as in early cancer detection — AGP has been willing to act. In other areas, particularly drug-based interventions still confined to animal trials, the firm remains patient.

“We’re monitoring,” Lui said. “But we need more human data.”

That same evidence-first discipline carries into fund construction. Some companies require timelines that extend beyond realistic fund horizons. Others lean on momentum, branding, or valuation rather than demonstrated outcomes — a pattern AGP approaches with caution.

“First and foremost, we have to return capital to our LPs,” Davian Sim said.“If we don’t do that, we won’t have any more capital to invest and support companies.”

The result is a deliberate filter: ambition tempered by evidence, and narrative subordinated to proof.

Building Across Asia

Scaling healthcare companies in Southeast Asia presents challenges that do not exist in more unified markets.

Unlike the United States, the region is fragmented — linguistically, culturally, and regulatorily. Expanding across Southeast Asia often requires building multiple operating playbooks in parallel, each shaped by local policy, reimbursement structures, and clinical practice.

“In Asia — especially Southeast Asia — we’re heterogeneous,” Davian Sim said.“Southeast Asia is effectively ten countries, and each has its own idiosyncrasies, cultures, and policies.”

Within that complexity, Singapore plays a distinct strategic role. While small as a domestic market, it serves as a regional anchor for intellectual property, manufacturing, quality assurance, and regulatory credibility. In pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, “Made in Singapore” carries weight — not only across Southeast Asia, but increasingly as validation into China.

“It’s not about volume,” Basil Lui said. “It’s about trust.”

That emphasis on trust extends beyond market entry. Healthcare investments carry real-world consequences, which is why AGP treats diligence as a non-negotiable part of the investment process. Scientific validity, clinical evidence, and regulatory approval are not procedural formalities — they directly shape outcomes for patients and healthcare systems.

“Whatever we invest in,” Lui said, “it will ultimately affect someone’s life at some point.”

Looking Forward

AGP does not view the future of healthcare as a sudden shift, but as an acceleration of trends already underway.Data density is increasing. AI tools are becoming deployable in real clinical environments. And healthcare is moving from episodic intervention toward continuous monitoring and longitudinal care.

“AI has reached an inflection point,” Lui said. “Every day we see new things.”

Asked what keeps them excited after so many years in the industry, Davian Sim is direct.

“A curious mind,” he said. “That’s what keeps us excited about this work.”