317 digital business startup teams applied before today’s deadline for our second accelerator program this year. The program is scheduled to start on 29 August and the first confirmed participating team is Vault Dragon, led by Singapore locals Tseng Ching-Tse and Vishesh Mittal.
They will be joined on the 100 day ideas-to-investment program by 10-12 other teams, drawn from over 1,400 individuals who registered initial interest. In exchange for a minority equity stake, every team joining will be offered a package including S$15,000 (USD 11,700) net cash, mentoring valued at S$150,000 (USD 117,000), technical and other vendor perks worth S$300,000 (USD 234,000) and working space for the duration of the program.
Hugh Mason, co-founder and CEO at JFDI.Asia, said: “This will be the third time we’ve run an accelerator program like this and the quantity and quality of teams applying grows every time. The range of business ideas and the level of expertise we see on our doorstep here in Asia is truly impressive and our metrics show that the startups we accelerate do as well as any of their peers in Europe or the US outside Silicon Valley.”
By the end of 2013, JFDI.Asia will have accelerated around 30 startups, of which more than 60% typically secure follow-on funding averaging S$600,000. To date JFDI.Asia startups have closed funding offers over S$4million, a hit rate equalled by no other early-stage business support program in Asia.
Ray Wu, Accelerator Manager at JFDI.Asia said: “It’s going to be really tough making a final selection from the teams that have applied. One way or another, we hope to work with many of the best in future even if we don’t have space for them all now. I’m looking forward to another batch of new friends and colleagues starting with us later in the month immensely and am immensely grateful to the friends around the world who have sent such a lot of talent our way.”
JFDI.Asia’s next accelerator program attracted interest from around the world. In descending order by country, the program attracted most attention from Singapore, the USA, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, with Korea, Japan and the UK not far behind.
When it came to actual applications, the pattern was intriguingly similar but not identical. The proportion of applications from the top countries were, in decreasing order: India (28%), Singapore (23%), Philippines (7%), Indonesia (6%), Taiwan (4%), Vietnam (4%), UK (3%), Malaysia (3%), Thailand (3%), US (3%), Australia (2%), Japan (1%) and Hong Kong (1%). Other nations made up less than 1% of applications each.