Can Singapore produce Billion dollar tech startups?

Singapore's tech ecosystem has remarkably improved from what it was five years back. From an occasional early double digit million exits, we have now seen many companies hitting the Centurion (100 million) mark. But has it improved enough to produce Unicorns ( 1 billion) ? Does the ecosystem have capabilities to produce the next billion dollar tech startup?

Lets do a deep dive and assess the elements that are necessary for that to happen.

1. Quantity : Number of startup formation had reached healthy levels in 2012-2013. In 2009, we used to receive two pitches per WEEK. Contrast that with 2013-14 average of two pitches per DAY.
We all know that this did not happen organically. Government has done a lot to prime the pump. In my mind, the biggest contributor to this ecosystem was the TIS scheme launched by National Research Foundation (NRF). This was not a perfect scheme. But it gave Singapore the right to call itself the regional hub for tech companies. It attracted talent from all over South East Asia. Sadly, NRF has shifted its focus from what they consider "Low tech" to "High tech". I personally don't think that iJAM reload can completely fill the gap. But that is making iJAM program really competitive. I was on an i-JAM panel recently and to my surprise the quality of startups was at par with some of the TIS companies. IDA is getting active by approving a number of new incubators to seed many more as well. However, Spring Singapore seems to have taken a back seat. Time will tell if the ecosystem can adapt to these governmental decisions but the activity levels as of now are healthy.

2. Quality:  Over time the quality has become better as well. The teams are well rounded and have more experienced founders. But do we have the quality of producing Unicorns? I personally don't think that we are short of skills here. We have lot of founders who are great starters who can take the companies to Series A. We also have talented experienced hires available in regional head quarters of various tech companies who can scale the potential winners. However, we need smart capital that can make this transition successful. I personally know that some very smart people are raising Series A funds and are in various stages of closing those funds. The challenge for all these funds would be to come in early (earlier than a typical Series A) and fill the void created by NRF. Will they? I don't know. May be that will force the founders to be more creative on how they syndicate and/or Bootstrap.

3. Support systems:  We now have a reasonably healthy mix of incubators, co-working spaces, growth funds and corporate participants. However, we are short on two things: good seed stage funds (accelerators) and regulation.
Seed stage shortage can not be addressed by Angels. We desperately need smart seed stage investors who practice emergent strategy and can help transform ideas into scalable businesses. This will build the pipeline for Series A funds about to be raised. This is the single biggest problem with our ecosystem. Series A gap is being filled at the expense of Seed Stage capital. Most active seed investors are now becoming Series A investors. In absence of good acceleration funds, they all might have to retune their expectations.
Regulators are also not in sync with what is expected from the "easiest place to do business". I have had some experience dealing with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). And they are no where near UK Financial Conducts Authority (FCA). If we want to play to our strengths, we can't ignore Fintech. And, we can't focus on Fintech without a proactive MAS. Hope someone is listening.

To conclude, IMHO, Singapore can produce billion dollar startups provided it plays to its strengths. Enterprise Software and Fintech are two areas that we can easily build without going anywhere. And, regional consumer startups are also a huge opportunity if we move out of our comfort zones and explore Southeast Asia.

What do you think? Constructive criticism is very welcome..