The first cohort of digital technology startups have graduated from the Startup Station Accelerator Program, – a partnership between Facebook and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in Singapore to support data innovation in Asia.
Startup Station is powered by Rainmaking and is Facebook's second data innovation
startup programme globally, and the first in Asia. Virginia Yang, Director, Developer Partnerships and Programs APAC, Facebook said, “We are proud to welcome our first cohort of startups and hear from them about their product and growth stories. We know it’s so important to support young businesses and the value of connecting them with specialists in product innovation, business growth and data protection to build a stronger and sustainable startup ecosystem with real impact.“
“The quality of startups demonstrated how the programme has strengthened the participants’ knowledge and capabilities, to enable them to create even better products and services. This supports our mission to grow a trusted and innovation-driven data ecosystem for a digital economy. Our heartiest congratulations to the startups; we look forward to seeing their continued success,” said Yeong Zee Kin, Assistant Chief Executive (Data Innovation and Protection) of IMDA.
Singapore was chosen
as the location for Startup Station because of the ease of doing
business, access to capital and partners and wholehearted commitment to
technology and business innovation. The 10 graduates include four Singapore companies:
Allied World Healthcare (Philippines), a social enterprise, sustainably delivering basic healthcare services in underserved communities
DRVR (Thailand) provides Asia’s fleet management and analytics
Envolve.ai (Singapore) offers an end-to-end sensing and analytics service connecting retailers with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers
GigaGigs (Malaysia) makes an app that instantly connects users with micro tasks (simple, fun and easy-to-do tasks), and them upon the completion of the tasks
Jumper.ai (Singapore) is a direct-to-consumer conversational commerce enabler that converts every social media post into a personalised checkout experience
Newswav (Malaysia) is an online news aggregator
Qlue (Indonesia) has a social media app which allows users to report problems directly to the city government and businesses, as well as share information with people around them in order to help create smart cities
QSearch (Taiwan) provides products that enable marketers to analyse social networks for product, brand, or topic trends. While not based in Southeast Asia, Jason Lin, Startup Programs Manager, APAC for Facebook said that all of its clients are in Singapore
Vouch (Singapore) supports companies to build high quality, scalable artificial intelligence (AI) digital concierges that help with customer service, marketing, and loyalty programmes
Waitrr (Singapore) has an ordering and payments app that allows preorders of takeaways and dine-in meals to skip the wait
The startups will now join Facebook’s startup alumni programme, which
will continue to connect them to a global network of startups.
Lin shared that
the theme of data innovation had been chosen as it is capable of great
impact and also general enough to cut across different sectors.
He
said that hundreds of companies applied after roadshows were held in
five Southeast Asian cities. Recommendations also came in from venture
capitalists, and several candidates were identified by the organisers.
"The
criteria is that you must have a product ready with a group of users
and ready to scale," he said. "You must have a business in Southeast
Asia."
The 2019 programme ran from February to August, with startups being flown into Singapore for activities in the first and last weeks, as well as mid-programme. Programme components include intense training sprints to help companies scale and address key challenges; mentorship from Facebook experts and industry leaders in product innovation, business growth and data protection; as well as support and guidance from IMDA.
"During the weeks where they are not in (Singapore) they still have
biweekly and weekly check-ins with their mentors. We are tracking their
progress even if they are doing other (things)," Lin said.
Graduates of the programme have the opportunity to become Facebook product partners, Lin added. "A lot of countries with diverse needs and challenges, " Lin explained.
"Product partners help us meet consumer needs... Eventually we can build an ecosystem
to help the startup help the communities that they are serving."
Jumper is already such a partner, working with corporations to help them sell
tickets via chatbots, Lin said. "It's an additional revenue stream that had not existed before for the client."
Updates on the programme will be made by fb.me/startupstationsingapore in coming months. Applications are likely to open in Q419.
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