How Singapore nurtured foreign trio who became billionaires with hit game Free Fire

Forrest Li, chairman and group chief executive officer of Sea Ltd, in Singapore on July 8. Demand for Sea's mobile games and online-shopping platform has surged during the pandemic. — Wei Leng Tay/Bloomberg

David Chen left his native China as a teenager to attend school in Singapore. Little did he know that his adopted city would help him reach the ranks of the ultra-rich.

The co-founder of Sea Ltd is now worth US$1.3bil (RM5.46bil), joining fellow co-founders Forrest Li and Gang Ye among Singapore’s wealthiest individuals. Their company has thrived during the pandemic thanks to the popularity of battle royale mobile game Free Fire and e-commerce platform Shopee.