International lineup of digital businesses demonstrate their traction to the most active early-stage investors in Southeast Asia
JFDI.Asia (Joyful Frog Digital Incubator) today presents the latest 8 business startups to pass through its JFDI2015B Accelerate program, the longest-etablished and most successful of its type in Southeast Asia. The team founders hail from countries as diverse as Russia and Australia as well as Singapore and get six minutes each to pitch alongside 3 additional guest teams from Venture Port Korea. Video of the JFDI pitches is available online.
Every business pitching today has been through JFDI’s 100-day Accelerate program which committed SGD 50,000 cash (USD 37,000) for a fixed 8.88% equity stake for startups accepted into its semiannual program. Additionally, there’s a promise of SGD 70,000 (USD 53,000) follow-on participation at the seed round for the most successful startups and every team will be offered a package including intensive one-on-one mentoring valued at SGD 150,000 (USD 113,000), plus technical and other vendor perks worth SGD 1.2 million (USD 908,000).
JFDI Accelerate Program Manager Huang Chi-Kai commented on the mix of teams in this batch, “Many have a strong B2B value proposition and therefore more certainty on their revenue model.”
The teams selected from 559 applications and graduating today will join JFDI’s expanding alumni network of 69 startups with an aggregate portfolio value that now exceeds SGD 60 million. In alphabetical order, the JFDI Accelerate Class of 2015B are:
- CodeCloud, from the United States, offering a Stack+Services for web app development.
- CurrentDraw, from China, is like Google Docs + Alibaba for Electrical Design.
- Eventory, from Singapore for lead generation in real-world events
- Execuvite, from United States, Singapore, and Israel, is a market Platform for Freelance Teams.
- Fynd, from Singapore, is the Uber for onsite mobile phone repair.
- Infogym, from Norway, Software is eating the gym.
- Play2Lead, from United States, Australia, and Russia, makes corporate training fun, memorable and insightful.
- Roomfilla, from United Kingdom and Thailand, unbundles the hotel stack for short-term rentals.
Norwegian startup Infogym joined JFDI Accelerate after completing the TINC Asia ‘go global’ program supported by JFDI’s partner Innovation Norway. Tor Ivar Vaage, CEO of Infogym, described the JFDI Accelerate experience: “All of us here achieved something not a lot of founders do, and we’re just all so proud. I’m excited to show the audience what we’ve working on for the last 100 days.”
JFDI CEO Hugh Mason is emcee for the demo day event and says: “We could not run JFDI Accelerate without the support of so many mentors, investors and corporate partners. As I look out over the audience I see many many friends of the frog who have helped us get this far and I want you to know how much we appreciate you. Entrepreneurship will always be difficult but it doesn’t have to be random and it doesn’t have to be lonely. The results of the systematic process these teams have been through are clear today, as is the commitment from everyone in our community – thank you!”