MEDIA FACTSHEET Startup SG Founder Venture Building programmes supported over 300 participants in six months
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MEDIA FACTSHEET
Startup SG Founder Venture Building programmes supported
over 300 participants in six months
MR No.: 014/21
Singapore, Tuesday, 23 February 2021
1. Enterprise Singapore’s Startup SG Founder Venture Building programmes have
supported over 300 participants to become entrepreneurs since they commenced six
months ago. Of this, close to 150 participants have graduated from the programmes. This
was achieved through the support of five Venture Builders – Nanyang Technological
University, National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University,
Singapore University of Technology and Design and Singapore University of Social
Sciences.
2. Announced in August 2020, the three-month Venture Building programmes are part of the
enhanced Startup SG Founder scheme to groom aspiring entrepreneurs with no business
experience to build and scale innovative startups. The Venture Building programmes help
participants build a stronger foundation in entrepreneurship and develop innovative
products or solutions. This is done through specially curated modules that focus on critical
areas like business models, digital marketing and fundraising. Participants are also
mentored by seasoned entrepreneurs and industry veterans which enable them to secure
early market feedback on their business ideas with potential customers.
3. Key highlights from the first batch of Venture Building graduates:
a. About 80% of the graduates are mid-career PMETs who came from various
backgrounds including hospitality, education, social enterprise and technology,
with the remaining being fresh graduates with backgrounds in business,
engineering, architecture, psychology and data analytics;
b. Graduates age range between 21 to 64 years old. Majority of the graduates are
within the 21-30 year old age group;
Page 1 of 8c. Majority of the sectors ventured into are in up and coming sectors such as edutech,
healthtech, eldercare and the built environment;
d. More than 80% of the Venture Building graduates have gone on to pursue their
startup ideas.
4. To provide live pitching and networking opportunities with potential investors and co-
founders, 14 graduate teams showcased their business ideas at Founder IGNITE, a series
of pitch events organised by Enterprise Singapore. Five winning teams each won close to
S$40,000 worth of startup resources and support, such as co-working spaces and
enterprise tools. (See full list of participating startups and sponsors in Annex 1 and 2)
5. The first Founder IGNITE pitch event was held today at JustCo and was graced by Minister
for Trade and Industry, Mr Chan Chun Sing. Local and foreign investors and accelerators
such as Ms Huang Shao-Ning (Chief Angel of AngelCentral), Ms Koh Shi Yan (Co-Founder
and General Partner of Hustle Fund) and Mr Chirayu Wadke (Founding Member of XA
Network) were also in attendance.
6. Enterprise Singapore will continue to work with partners to provide entrepreneurs with
access to mentorship, incubation and co-innovation opportunities through the Startup SG
programmes.
7. In November 2020, three more Venture Builders – 500 Startups, Antler and Entrepreneur
First – were added, bringing the total number of Venture Builders to eight. Since the
conclusion of the first batch of programmes, the eight Venture Builders have launched
more Venture Building programmes.
-End-
Page 2 of 8For media enquiries, please contact:
Cassandra Wong
Business Partner
Corporate Communications
M : +65 9129 8490
E : cassandra_wong@enterprisesg.gov.sg
_________________________________________________________________________
About Enterprise Singapore
Enterprise Singapore (ESG) is the government agency championing enterprise development.
We work with committed companies to build capabilities, innovate and internationalise.
We also support the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups, and build
trust in Singapore’s products and services through quality and standards.
Visit www.enterprisesg.gov.sg for more information.
Page 3 of 8ANNEX 1
List of startups participating in Founder IGNITE
No. Startup Name Sector/ Industry Description
1 360green Urban Solutions [Startup info] Environmental sustainability
through mitigation and offsetting of CO2 in
(NTU programme) forestry as a nature-based solution.
[Founder info] Dilveer Singh is the Founder
and CEO of 360green. Dilveer is an
environmental expert in the field of climate
change, with over 6 years of environmental
consultancy and audit experience for various
industries and the carbon markets, with prior
experience of managing the world’s largest
environmental verification company in the
entire Southeast Asian region.
2 CommerceHulk Enterprise Solutions [Startup info] One-stop integrated SaaS
platform that connects and streamlines all
(SUTD programme) essential processes & information for
merchants to easily manage their e-
commerce business across platforms.
[Founder info] Lee Jie Hong graduated from
the Singapore University of Technology and
Design (SUTD) with a degree in engineering
with a computer science background that
focussed on software development and cloud
architecture. During his time at SUTD, he was
involved in the SUTD Technology
Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) which
gave him the opportunity to work in Silicon
Valley in San Francisco and Beijing. While at
Silicon Valley, he interned at an AI/Data
Analytics company that developed
autonomous driving technology.
3 Deskpax Enterprise Solutions [Startup info] A web booking marketplace for
co-working space operators to list available
(SMU programme) space inventory and attract more mobile
workforce clients.
[Founder info] June Lee is a Revenue
Management professional with 17 years of
experience specialising in revenue
optimisation, business trend analysis, pricing,
and distribution. Prior to joining the
programme, June held several positions in the
hospitality industry across Southeast Asia and
the Maldives.
4 Homebase Marketplace Platform [Startup info] HomeBase is a marketplace for
buyers to buy home-based products and a
software-as-as-service to streamline home-
Page 4 of 8based businesses to ensure seamless
operations.
[Founder info] Keefe Chan is a strong believer
in bringing equality and fairness to the
community through his technical skills, by
creating software and platforms that can
reduce entrenched social and economic
disadvantages. Keefe has founded and co-
founded startups, specialising in enterprise
solutions in the past. Through HomeBase,
Keefe hopes to help the home-based
business community reach more customers
through their platform.
5 Hummus Edutech [Startup info] Early childhood Edutech
platform with voice interactive stories that
(NUS programme) enables parents to track the learning abilities
of the child.
[Founder info] Melissa completed her Masters
of Education at NTU in 2020. Prior to that, she
served as an Assistant Vice President of
OCBC Bank for 6 years. Upon receiving her
Masters degree, Melissa created Mellaby
(https://bit.ly/2YhvuGi), a social media account
that provides tips for parents on child
development, where she interacted
extensively with parents and gained an
understanding of their needs.
6 Kaleidoscope Edutech / Healthtech [Startup info] Kaleidoscope is a collaborative
data-driven System of Support which provides
(NTU programme) insights into the total wellbeing of a person
that recommends actionable steps to unlock
human potential.
[Founder info] Joseph Kalaivanar has over 25
years of experience in growth marketing,
digital product development and large project
management. He has played a significant role
in major projects in both the Services,
Manufacturing and Education sectors. Apart
from organising APAC’s largest trade events
(Asian Aerospace, Asia Media Festival, etc.)
and building Digital Learning solutions for
large MNCs, he is also a Content and
Community builder.
7 Kinobi Edutech [Startup info] A one-stop Digital Career
Accelerator platform that provides education,
(SMU programme) access to networks and branding for each
person’s dream career.
Page 5 of 8[Founder info] Muhammad Hafiz Bin Kasman
is an ex-management consultant in the
Digital practice at Oliver Wyman, having led
multiple engagements across Southeast
Asia. Hafiz also worked at Hmlet, where he
worked directly under the CEO on strategic
and corporate development. Aside from his
professional career, Hafiz is also a serial
community builder – having built multiple
mentoring programmess impacting 1,000+
students thus far.
8 Konnect Healthcare [Startup info] Konnect aims to address the
rising need for soft food amongst the ageing
(SUSS programme) population through an Ecosystem Technology
Platform that will enlist recipe contributors,
advocacy groups, and food producers to work
in this space to supply soft food to the elderly.
[Founder info] Michael Lim is an ex-Naval
Officer who most recently managed a 350-
bedder nursing home as a COO. He joined the
VB programme in his 50s.
9 MediVR Healthtech [Startup Info] MediVR simulates real patients
using VR and AI for medical schools to provide
(NUS programme) accessible and standardised medical training
and education tools.
[Founder info] Aiden Koh graduated from NUS
with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering
and Second Major in Innovation and Design.
He is currently the co-founder and Lead VR
Developer of MediVR. Prior to this, he worked
with a VR hardware startup that was recently
acquired by Facebook Reality Labs. His
startup idea won his team the SGTech-SoC
Innovation Prize 2020 – Team Prize.
10 Model-up Edutech [Startup info] Model Up aims to gamify
education content with a new form of hybrid
(SMU programme) interactive learning. This includes digital and
physical interactive components (e.g. letter
blocks linked to online education content) to
enhance children’s learning.
[Founder info] Calvin Hia is a recent graduate
of SUTD, graduating with a Bachelor of
Engineering - Engineering Systems and
Design. He participated in NUS Enterprise's
Lean Launchpad Singapore programme and
is a certified yoga instructor.
11 Kairos.ai Edutech [Startup info] AI enabled learning transfer
coach to guide staff to apply job related
(SUSS programme) knowledge at the workplace. MyiRFi helps
Page 6 of 8companies build up their knowledge base and
dispense this to staff who need to use it.
[Founder info] James Lee has over 20 years
of consultancy experience in helping
companies establish different type of
management system and have assisted
MNCs worldwide in implementation and
deployment.
12 Proccoli Urban Solutions [Startup info] A B2B SaaS platform for the
facilities management industry, which aims to
(SUTD programme) help clients improve service quality and
manage escalating operating costs through
automation of procurement and workflow
processes.
[Founder info] Wang Wei Liang graduated
from SUTD, specialising in Engineering
Product Design (EPD) and was awarded the
SUTD Undergraduate Merit Scholarship. Wei
Liang involved himself in several engineering
projects previously, including building an
underwater robot and inventing an adjustable
prosthetic socket for Diabetic amputees.
13 Scholaebot Edutech [Startup info] An education tech software
engine that does content management and
(NTU programme) content generation for schools.
[Founder info] Genevieve Tan is a psychology
graduate that is charge of the external
operations and engagements in Scholaebot.
She had about 5 years of experience as a
private tutor for children to adult learner and
understands the pain points of an educator in
generating educational content.
14 Whyte Labs Edutech [Startup info] An educational robotics platform
that is fun, interactive and one that is able to
(SUTD programme) let kids explore to build their own projects.
[Founder info] Jeremy Koh is an educator by
day and robotics researcher by night and is
deeply passionate about robotics and
science and helping youths to unleash their
own creativity. He was a senior engineer in
DSTA and was involved in National
Engineering Programme Centre (Simulation
and Training).
Page 7 of 8ANNEX 2
List of sponsors
Sponsors Startup resources
JustCo Co-working space support with hot desking
memberships for startup teams.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in
Singapore, JustCo is Asia Pacific’s leading
coworking company and a connector between
people, busineses and ideas.
Amazon Web Services Cloud credits to enable startup teams to build
their digital products.
We provides startups with low cost, easy to use
infrastructure needed to scale and grow any
size business.
Zoho Coroporation Enterprise online productivity tools and
applications to support startup teams in building
With 45+ apps in sales, marketing, customer their foundation processes.
support, accounting and back office operations,
and an array of productivity and collaboration
tools, Zoho Corporation is one of the world's
most prolific software companies.
HubSpot Knowledge sharing sessions and preferential
rates offered for HubSpot’s digital enterprise
HubSpot’s CRM platform has all the tools and solution tools.
integrations enterprises need for marketing,
sales, content management, and customer
service.
Dropbox Digital enterprise workspace packages to
enable work efficiency for startup teams.
Dropbox is a leading global collaboration
platform that’s transforming the way people and
teams work together. Dropbox is used by more
than 600m registered users across 180
countries.
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