The Taiwan government's National Development Fund (NDF) began to implement 5-year Startup Business Angel Investment Program specifically for angel investment in startup businesses in late 2018, and had invested in 202 qualified startup businesses with total approved angel investment of NT$3.162 billion (US$102 million) as of August 31, 2022, according to National Development Council (NDC) which is the management agency for NDF.
The angel investment had driven the private sector to invest NT$8.818 billion in these startup businesses and prompted these startup businesses to make total operating investment of NT$11.980 billion, NDC said.
The program was initially to subsidy startup businesses with a budget of NT$1.0 billion but, in order to support startup businesses on a mid- to long-term basis, was adjusted from subsidization to venture capital investment along with expanding the budget to NT$5.0 billion, NDC Minister and NDF Convener Kung Ming-hsin noted. If demand from startup businesses increases, the budget could be further expanded to NT$10.0 billion, Kung said.
In addition to angel investment, NDF had added stake investment in some of the startup businesses already obtaining angel investment, with total additional investment for 40 projects amounting to NT$328 million as of August 31, 2022. Besides, NDF's additional investment had driven private investors to do so with total additional stake investment of NT$2.549 billion.
According to NDF Executive Secretary Su Lai-shou, NDF has performed well in terms of return on investment. Excluding investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), NDF has generated cumulative total return on investment of over NT$330 billion since it was established in 1973, equivalent to annual average of about NT$7.0 billion, Su said. Including investment in TSMC, the cumulative total return on investment exceeds NT$1,300 billion, averaging NT$ a year, Su noted.
