Succession. No, not the show. Here’s Oneteam. This Singapore-founded startup buys SMEs from retiring owners and transitions them into employee-owned businesses.

Oh, and they’ve just raised ~$2.6M ($3.5M SGD) in a seed round!

• According to Singapore’s Department of Statistics, SMEs make up over 99% of the country’s over 300k enterprises, employing over 70% of the workforce.

Investor check. Wavemaker Partners led the round.

‍

🤔 What’s the problem?

What happens when all these SME owners hit retirement? For many of these businesses, the future is uncertain. There’s no clear exit, but also no clear or confident succession plan.

‍

📈 How it works

So what does Oneteam do? They acquire these SMEs and recruit and train business leaders to bring these companies to the next level. They’ll be using digital-first solutions to turn these companies into global enterprises.

• They promise to take care of the business, the employees, and the legacy.
• They have tailored training, partners, and a strong network to support business growth.

But that’s not all. They make sure employees share in the company’s success through stock incentives and profit sharing.

• They’ll even support them to launch their own businesses.

This helps retain jobs, preserve the business legacy, and grow the next generation of employees as co-owners of the businesses they help build.

‍

💰 What’s with the $$$?

They’ll deploy about 70% to acquiring small businesses. And the rest is to develop the core team and infrastructure.