One of the hottest wine bars for Chinese billionaires isn’t atop a Shanghai office tower or within a Beijing courtyard house. It’s in a modest black-and-white bungalow next to a six-lane thruway in the heart of Singapore.
The list of entrepreneurs establishing themselves in Singapore reads like a Who’s Who of Chinese startups circa 2018. Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok’s ByteDance Ltd., frequently travels there, according to several people who have met with him. Crypto mogul Jihan Wu bought a storage vault dubbed Asia’s Fort Knox near the Changi Airport in September. And VIPKid founder Cindy Mi, whose company was a venture capital darling until Beijing cracked down on online education, is also a regular visitor, according to two people familiar.
The recent arrivals add to the list of established Chinese executives who already call Singapore home. Sean Shi, co-founder of hotpot maker Haidilao International Holding Ltd., paid S$50 million for a so-called good class bungalow in September, according to local media. Fosun International Ltd. co-founder Liang Xinjun has set up a family office.