Huawei Cloud Partners Singapore IMDA to Launch the Inaugural Spark Incubator Programme for the Next Generation of Start-ups in Asia
[Singapore, 8 November 2022] – HUAWEI CLOUD launched the inaugural Spark Incubator programme as part of its partnership with the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) PIXEL Innovation Hub. It targets early-stage Singapore-based start-ups in the pre-seed and seed space from sectors including FinTech, Web3, Metaverse and Software as a Service (SaaS) focused enterprises, aims to support their growth to Series A and expansion in Singapore and ASEAN region.
The programme aims to incubate up to 12 start-ups per cohort for a period of five months and will be run twice over the span of a year. It will provide access to valuable resources and expertise from Huawei and IMDA to further accelerate and grow their business. Start-ups are expected to receive 3rd party financing over S$250k or increase their valuation by at least 20%, or cross S$250k at its annual revenue in the post-program.
From left: Mr Rex Lei, Managing Director of Huawei Cloud Singapore; Mr Charles Cheng, Managing Director of Huawei International; Mr Foo Fang Yong, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei International; Mr Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive of the Infocomm Media Development Authority(IMDA); Mr Ng Kaijie, Director, Innovation, IMDA; Ms Joanne Teh, Assistant Director, Innovation, IMDA
After four months of selection from over 80 applications, Leo Jiang, Chief Digital Officer of Huawei Cloud APAC and the director of the Spark Program, announced the names of the nine start-ups as the first cohort from Nov 2022 to Mar 2023:
Web 3:
Nervotec: Healthcare analytics as a service to monitor medical grade vital signs
NFT Circle: Digitalization of physical asset, real estate, and arts as a service
Heros: Enable athletes to monetise their careers through fan engagements and rewards
Fintech:
D-Risk: Assists companies to manage credit risk efficiently, accurately, and affordably with AI
Corgi.AI: A fraud prevention AI plug-in helping businesses better understand and prevent fraud
Enterprise SaaS:
Linh.AI: Solution for higher quality and cost-effective data annotation
Better Data: AI synthetic data provider
Zapkad: A smart digital business card with comprehensive features worldwide
Xrator: Forges cyber resilience for all organisations
Foo Fang Yong, CEO of Huawei International
“We are proud to be collaborating with IMDA on the Spark Incubator Programme, and help local early-stage start-ups commercialise, strengthen their technological capability, and raise funds effectively. Working alongside these most promising start-ups provides co-creation and innovative opportunities where together we can bring greater value to our customers, and upscale Singapore’s economic competitiveness in the long-term. We pledge to continue driving innovation with our start-up’s alumni from Singapore to Asia Pacific and even further, providing a global platform for the most ground-breaking and transformational companies to thrive.” said Mr Foo Fang Yong, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei International.
“Start-ups participating in the Spark Incubator Programme can look forward to dedicated mentorship and access to facilities. The programme brings together Huawei’s expertise and IMDA PIXEL’s facilities in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, as well as the network of 12,000 solutions providers under IMDA’s Open Innovation Platform (OIP). These help Singapore start-ups build world-class products and scale across the region,” said Mr Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive, IMDA.
Throughout this incubator programme, participants can look to receive HUAWEI CLOUD credits up to US$60,000, up to $75,000 fee-free processing on Stripe, office space at PIXEL, as well as additional mentorship from Huawei and its like-minded industry partners such as IMDA, Stripe, AngelCentral, MasterCard, Monk’s Hill, GSR Ventures, Lion X Ventures, OCBC, Mycelium Ventures and DocuSign.
With this partnership, IMDA and Huawei will jointly help start-ups build customer-centric products by tapping on advice from PIXEL’s panel of consultants in Design Thinking and UI/UX with Digital Storytelling, along with access to lead corporate demand through IMDA’s Open Innovation Platform (OIP).
Additionally, start-ups can leverage Huawei services to enhance their product capabilities and receive dedicated technical support from Huawei Solution Architects. They will also benefit from sessions including the 1-1 mentorship with Huawei and mentors like Stripe to nail product-market-fit, develop sound business plan and sharpen go-to-market strategy, curated masterclasses on B2B deal navigation with experienced industry practitioners, and entrepreneur coaching classes to develop world-class pitch decks and effective presentation skills. The programme will provide opportunities to help start-ups build lasting business connections through Huawei’s corporate and venture capital partners such as GSR Ventures, Lion X Digital Innovation Fund (co-managed by Lion X Ventures and OCBC Bank) and Mycelium, and potentially expand their business to the Southeast Asia and China markets, as they strive towards post-programme investments of up to S$3 million.
Since its inception from Singapore as a start-up accelerator in 2020, HUAWEI CLOUD’s Spark programme has received over 3,000 applications over the past two years across the globe, with US$50 million raised by Spark alumni from investors.
Applications to join the May 2023 cohort of Huawei Spark Incubator programme are open now. Eligible applicants should be Singapore-located, must ensure that teams already have at least a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), possess a strong product-market fit and moat, paid proof-of-concepts, and have previous entrepreneurial or corporate experience, coupled with strong ambition to scale their business regionally and globally by leveraging HUAWEI CLOUD. Interested start-ups may apply here.