Some Singaporean family offices are withdrawing due to AI investment boom

[SINGAPORE] Singaporean family offices are keen to invest in artificial intelligence (AI), but many remain on the sidelines as limited access to deals and a lack of technical expertise hinder capital deployment.

Interest in AI is growing with soaring valuations and record funding rounds, with investors tracking potential public listings for companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX.

“Many family offices are looking at the potential of OpenAI’s IPO (initial public offering) as a bellwether,” said Grace Tan, CEO and managing director of Phillip Private Equity.

However, he added that local investors are becoming more selective. “They are moving to a more cautious stance and analyzing when the company will break even.”

among them 2026 Global Family Office ReportJPMorgan Private Bank noted that 65% of family offices around the world aim to prioritize AI, but more than half lack exposure to the growth equity and venture capital firms driving innovation in this area.

This is equally evident in Singapore.

Natasha Minniti, global co-head of JPMorgan Private Bank’s Family Office practice, called this gap “one of the clearest patterns emerging today.”

“While the excitement around AI is undeniable, accessing early-stage opportunities remains a major challenge,” she said.

A separate Okorian survey of 25 Singapore-based family offices published in March similarly found that although 96 per cent of family offices have implemented AI tools in their operations and data management, none are currently investing in the technology.

Although based on a small sample size, this contrast is indicative of a broader trend in which operational adoption is far ahead of investment exposure.

Barriers to access and expertise

Part of the challenge lies in the concentration of opportunities in a small number of closely held private companies.

SpaceX is reportedly preparing for an IPO in mid-2026, while Anthropic and OpenAI could go public from late 2026 to 2027.

Kelvin Lee, Alta’s co-founder and CEO, said that despite investor expectations, access to these high-quality stocks is “very limited and participation tends to be relationship driven.”

“Evaluating these companies requires technical understanding across a variety of subjects, which can be a significant barrier to confident implementation.”

Lim Leong Guan, global head of investment solutions group at Bank of Singapore (BOS), said the buzz surrounding OpenAI’s $852 billion valuation in its latest funding round has added to “an already crowded space in media headlines and investor interest.”

That said, he cautioned that family offices are subject to a “trilogy of considerations” including valuation concerns, illiquidity and choosing which companies to invest in.

JPMorgan Private Bank’s Minniti added that many families are still building the networks and expertise needed to confidently invest in these areas.

“Early-stage vehicles tend to be opaque and illiquid, and require resources and infrastructure that not all family offices have,” she added.

However, Philip Private Equity’s Mr Tan pointed to the differences between large and small family offices in terms of access and expertise. “Large family offices tend to have direct exposure to deal flow and have their own investment teams for due diligence.”

Smaller single-family offices, on the other hand, tend to receive exposure “more indirectly, through private equity or venture capital deals or public equity allocations,” he added.

Infrastructure blind spots

Beyond their headline names, family offices also have little presence in a quieter but equally important part of the AI ​​economy: the infrastructure layer that supports the technology.

JPMorgan Private Bank found that 79% of family offices allocate 0% to infrastructure such as data centers, power grids, and connectivity networks, despite their role as the physical backbone of AI.

An adviser to a Singapore-based family office said on condition of anonymity that smaller teams tend to lack the bandwidth to evaluate deeper infrastructure as AI spans semiconductors, platforms and data.

Many of them don’t have access to private trading, so they invest only in specific AI-themed publicly traded stocks listed on public stock markets, either through stocks or exchange-traded funds.

Tan pointed out that the risk profile of data center and infrastructure transactions is very different from what family offices have traditionally invested in, such as real estate.

“Large institutional investors such as GIC, Temasek and Blackstone dominate this space. This leaves little room for family offices to enter the market,” she said.

“Singapore family offices are betting on apps and brains, while leaving the bricks and power to sovereign wealth funds and global infrastructure giants.”

Risk management is key

Persistent access and expertise constraints require bankers to take a disciplined approach to family offices in which they consider investments.

BOS’s Mr Lim said customers should take a “highly multi-pronged approach and carefully consider three considerations to ensure they have access to the right advice”.

Minniti said family offices should consider multiple entry points to widen their access, including working with growth-only funds or venture funds, co-investing with trusted partners, and considering secondaries to diversify vintage.

Secondary or secondary transactions are the buying and selling of existing, experienced private market assets from other investors rather than the original fund issuer.

“Risk management is non-negotiable,” Minniti added.

That means gradual capital deployment, disciplined due diligence, and thoughtful position sizing aligned with liquidity needs and return goals, she explained.

“Patience and diversification are not only wise, they are fundamental.”