Woh Hup
Woh Hup is a near-century-old Singapore construction firm that backs water technology through its family office, Aurum Investments. The builder behind Gardens by the Bay and Jewel Changi Airport invests in startups that treat and monitor industrial water. As of 2026, (don't) Waste Water tracks 2 water companies it has backed and rates its commitment Committed.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Woh Hup has built Singapore for nearly a century. Founded in 1927 by Yong Yit Lin, the family firm raised Clifford Pier, Jewel Changi Airport and the glass biodomes of Gardens by the Bay. The water investing happens one step removed, through Aurum Investments, the Woh Hup Group's family office (the private investment arm of a wealthy family), where fourth-generation director Michelle Yong has built a venture program alongside the group's property and construction-tech bets. Woh Hup is a builder that invests, not a water fund.
Woh Hup's water bets read like a builder's logic. The firm has quietly become a serious data-centre contractor, completing six since 2016 across Singapore, India and Indonesia, and data centres are thirsty: they pour water through their cooling systems. So Woh Hup backed Hydroleap, a Singapore startup whose chemical-free electrochemical treatment recycles the water that data centres and factories would otherwise throw away. The investor builds the box; the company it backed cleans the water that box drinks.
The second bet, Aprisium, points the same way. Aprisium makes real-time sensors that catch contaminants, from heavy metals to the PFAS 'forever chemicals', in industrial water before they spread downstream. Both companies sit exactly where Woh Hup operates: the unglamorous industrial water of construction sites, factories and data halls, not the consumer 'smart tap' end of water tech. Aurum runs a corporate venture capital, or CVC, program aimed at early-stage property and construction technology, and water keeps surfacing inside it.
Woh Hup is not a water fund, and a newcomer should not file it as one. It is a builder whose investment arm has so far backed two water companies, enough for (don't) Waste Water to rate it Committed, and whose interest tracks the water problems of the things it actually builds. Watch whether Woh Hup's next water bet follows its own cranes. As of March 2026 the firm was awarded the contract to expand Marina Bay Sands, a reminder that the construction parent, and its appetite for the water that buildings consume, is anything but slowing down.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Woh Hup invest in?
- Woh Hup invests through Aurum Investments, its family office, across many asset classes, with a corporate venture program focused on early-stage property and construction technology in Southeast Asia. In water, (don't) Waste Water tracks two bets it has backed: Hydroleap and Aprisium.
- Who runs Woh Hup's investments?
- Woh Hup's investing runs through Aurum Investments, headed by fourth-generation director Michelle Yong, with Austyn Yong as Director of Financial Investments. Woh Hup itself is chaired by Yong Nam Seng, a grandson of founder Yong Yit Lin, who started the firm in 1927.
- What water companies has Woh Hup backed?
- Woh Hup has backed two Singapore water-tech startups: Hydroleap, which treats industrial and data-centre wastewater electrochemically without chemicals, and Aprisium, which makes real-time sensors that detect water contaminants such as PFAS. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Committed.
- Where is Woh Hup based?
- Woh Hup is based in Singapore, where it has built since 1927, and invests across Southeast Asia through its family office Aurum Investments. Its landmark projects include Gardens by the Bay and Jewel Changi Airport, and it also builds data centres across the region.
- Is Woh Hup a construction company or an investor?
- Woh Hup is primarily one of Singapore's oldest construction and civil-engineering firms. Its investing is a separate arm, the family office Aurum Investments, which makes the venture bets, including in water, that this profile tracks. Both share the Yong family ownership.