Global management consulting firm Bain & Company has on Friday announced that it intends to acquire the Asia Pacific (APAC) arm of global venture-building and start-up development studio, Rainmaking, to help companies across the region better innovate, launch, and scale new businesses.
Bain said in a statement that through its proposed acquisition of Rainmaking APAC, which comprises 50 entrepreneurial talents across key markets in Singapore, Japan and South Korea, the firm intends to accelerate and expand its business-building offering, NextSM, which is delivered by more than 200 entrepreneurs, strategists, designers, data scientists and engineers in Asia Pacific.
The acquisition is subject to, and contingent upon, several conditions precedent to completion and is expected to close at the end of July 2023.
“The region, especially Singapore, is a thriving innovation hub that has continued to attract talent and multinational companies to set up new businesses,” said Satish Shankar, Bain’s Asia Pacific regional managing partner.
“Building new engines of growth will continue to be a top priority for our client,
“Our Next℠ offering has delivered strong results in innovation and business-building for our clients, and our acquisition of Rainmaking APAC marks the next critical step in scaling our Innovation & Design (I&D) capabilities to create market-leading results for clients,” he added.
Both Bain and Rainmaking APAC were appointed to participate in the Corporate Venture Launchpad 2.0 program, a SGD 20 million ($15 million) initiative launched by the Singapore Economic Development Board.
Rainmaking is also a partner of Enterprise Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance to help more Singapore-based start-ups and tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access market opportunities in international markets.
“Our vision is to be the leading venture-building studio in Asia Pacific,” said Florian Hoppe, Asia Pacific leader in VectorSM, Bain’s digital delivery platform.
“By joining forces with Rainmaking APAC, we can help clients validate, build, and scale new businesses during a time when companies are forced to innovate, especially as we see disruptions through emerging technologies,” he said.
Rainmaking APAC Chief Executive Officer Samuel Hall said that over a number of years, the firm has built one of the leading venture studios in Asia Pacific.
“We work across the start-up lifecycle and are proud to have built the complementary capability to both build new companies and to take growth-stage companies to scale,
He said the firm’s distinct entrepreneurial culture and pioneering approach to equity co-investment and risk-sharing with its corporate partners have allowed the firm to stand out in the market.
“We are very excited to now continue our growth trajectory with Bain, who will supercharge our corporate connectivity and investment capability,
“With Bain as our backer, we will now be able to launch more studios and ventures; benefit from a greater volume of deeper partnerships with corporations and industry leaders; and drive significantly greater opportunity and upside for the people that work with us, build with us, and launch new ventures with us,” he added.
Rainmaking APAC builds new start-up companies that leverage the advantages and scale strengths of corporate partners and co-founders.
It has built and scaled ventures across many industries, including agriculture, energy, natural resources and cleantech, engineering, real estate and commercial property, retail, and financial services.
Following completion of the deal, Rainmaking APAC will retain its brand and existing operating structure and will continue to work with its partners while operating independently as a branded service line within Bain’s I&D ecosystem.
Rainmaking, on the other hand, will continue to own and operate its other businesses outside APAC.
Its business outside APAC is as a global venture building and startup studio.
It partners with visionary companies across the world to create new growth by enabling internal product teams to de-risk and accelerate their product launches; matching corporates with startups to launch new services in the market; building new ventures leveraging the assets and scale strengths of corporates and the entrepreneurial skills of startup founders.
Established in 2017, Rainmaking APAC is the region’s largest independent venture development company dedicated to ideating, building, launching and scaling businesses.
Its equity-share model in corporate venture building has allowed the company to take equity alongside its corporate partners, each acting as founding shareholders in the newcos that are created.
Rainmaking APAC’s portfolio focuses on co-founding new startups in partnership with corporate partners and entrepreneurial founders and powering the growth of Series A+ startups supporting them to scale and expansion into new markets.
To date, the companies Rainmaking APAC has built and scaled have generated over SGD 880 million ($592 million) in funding and hold a combined equity value of more than SGD 9 billion ($6.65 billion).
Rainmaking APAC has built ventures and scaled startups across key markets in the region, including dedicated offices in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and presence in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
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