Temasek is preparing to ‘derive greater synergy with its other funding platforms’, Vertex says
[SINGAPORE] Dilhan Pillay, executive director and CEO of Temasek, will succeed Teo Ming Kian as the chairman of Vertex Venture Holdings from Apr 15, the venture capital firm said in a media release on Friday (Apr 10).
Meanwhile, Vertex’s deputy chairman, Lee Kheng Nam, will also retire after being with the company since its inception in 1988.
Pillay, who previously served on the Vertex board from 2015 to 2018, takes over as Temasek “prepares to derive greater synergy with its other funding platforms”.
“Pillay has had a longstanding association with Vertex, including during his tenure as senior managing director of Temasek and head of the enterprise development group, where Vertex was under his purview,” the release read.
The leadership change follows a financial year in which Vertex reported a profit of over US$100 million for FY2025.
It was driven by several high-value exits, including Merck’s acquisition of EyeBio for up to US$3 billion and Salesforce’s US$2.1 billion acquisition of Own Company.
The group also saw gains in public markets, including with Horizon Robotics, which listed in 2024 at a US$6.7 billion valuation and almost doubled that to US$13 billion by April 2026.
The firm noted that its assets under management have expanded significantly during the outgoing chairman’s tenure, rising from nearly US$200 million in 2012 to about US$7 billion in 2026.
During this period, “Vertex strategically restructured from a Temasek-anchored fund, with its investment professionals as employees, to a global platform of general partner-owned network funds with third-party investors, with returns recycled after dividend payments to the shareholder,” the firm said.
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