SINGAPORE, 15 July 2014 — Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI) today disclosed new data quantifying the impact of its startups on the business ecosystem in South East Asia. The data reveals that the first two years of JFDI’s accelerator operations yielded 21 active startups, raising in aggregate SGD9m (USD7.2m) in seed funding and now valued at SGD36.1m (USD29.1m).
JFDI piloted its startup accelerator programme in 2012, repeating two more programs in 2013. Approximately 4% of teams applying to each program were selected. A follow up study comparing a random sample of 70 teams rejected with teams participating in the accelerator revealed that only 5% of those rejected went on to secure seed funding compared with approximately 60% of those going through the accelerator.
JFDI Co-founder and CEO Hugh Mason said: “We benchmark our performance against our peers internationally. The data proves that the accelerator model pioneered in the US, which JFDI brought to South East Asia, seems to work just as effectively here in Singapore. Innovation and entrepreneurship can be taught and the risks of early-stage business can be reduced systematically, creating jobs and opportunities across the region.”
In exchange for a minority equity stake, every team joining JFDI’s Accelerate program is offered a package including cash investment, in kind services such as mentoring and working space for the duration of the program valued at S$150,000 (USD 117,000), plus technical and other vendor perks worth S$300,000 (USD 234,000).
During Q2 2012, 11 startup teams graduated from JFDI’s first accelerator program. JFDI invested into these startups a total of SGD165k (USD133k) in cash and SGD1.65m (USD1.33m) in kind. To date, 6 startups in the cohort raised funding, 4 closed and 1 is growing organically. Investment raised by the cohort to date totals SGD4.93m (USD3.97m) on an aggregated valuation of SGD17.2m (USD13.9m). These startups have created over 80 high value jobs in the tech ecosystem.
In Q2 2013, 7 startup teams graduated from JFDI’s second accelerator program. JFDI invested into these startups a total of SGD175k (USD140k) in cash and SGD1.05m (U.D845k) in kind. To date, 4 startups in the cohort raised funding and 3 are growing organically. Investment raised by the cohort to date totals SGD2.13m (USD1.72m) on an aggregated valuation of SGD9.03m (USD7.28m).
In Q4 2013, 8 startup teams graduated from JFDI’s third accelerator program. JFDI invested SGD225k (USD181k) in cash and SGD1.35m (USD1.09m) in kind. To date, 2 startups in the cohort are closing investments with formal announcements expected shortly, 2 are in active negotiations with investors and 4 are growing organically. Investment committed to date totals SGD1.95m (USD1.57m) on an aggregated valuation of SGD9.90m (USD7.98m).
Further investment announcements from startups graduating in 2014 are anticipated shortly.