SPRING Singapore has appointed the first batch of 17 Accredited Mentor Partners (AMPs) under Startup SG Founder – these companies range across different industries from manufacturing, fintech, digital commerce and medical technologies. They include incubators from NUS (NUS Enterprise), NTU (NTUitive) and SMU (SMU IIE) as well as TAGPASS under SGInnovate.
As part of the umbrella branding Startup SG, Startup SG Founder aims to provide mentorship support and startup capital grant to first-time entrepreneurs with innovative business concepts. The scheme, with a budget of $20 million, works through AMPs to tighten partnerships between startups and private sector partners. All AMPs will be appointed on a three-year basis.
The AMPs will identify eligible startups based on the uniqueness of business concept, feasibility of business model, strength of management team, and potential market opportunity before recommending them to SPRING. Bringing financial and industry knowledge, these private sector partners will value-add with mentorship, connections to business networks, and advice to help startups accelerate their learning curves and enhance their go-to-market strategies.
SPRING launched a call-for-partnership from March 22 to April 17 2017. An evaluation panel with representatives from SPRING, National Research Foundation (NRF), Economic Development Board (EDB), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), deliberated on the selection. The AMPs were assessed on a set of criteria which included the track record of management team and quality of development programmes.
Mr. Edwin Chow, Group Director for Industry & Enterprise/ Innovation & Startups, SPRING Singapore, said,
“In collaboration with our partner agencies, we have assembled the first batch of proven partners who are able, and willing, to mentor and accelerate the development of startups. We are looking for more partners with the right capabilities and networks to connect more players in the Singapore startup ecosystem to the world.”
Mr. Felix Tan, managing director of TheFinLab, one of the appointed AMPs, said,
“The Finlab is proud to be appointed as a Startup SG Founder AMP under SPRING. Given that The Finlab is the only Singapore accelerator with three teams in last year’s Singapore Fintech Festival (1 in the Global Hackcelerator, and 2 in the Top 40 Fintech Awards), we are confident that we can identify and help deserving Singapore-based fintech startups get a headstart in building scalable and bankable businesses.”
For the full list of appointed AMPs and contact details, visit here.
For private sector players interested to join Startup Founder as an AMP, SPRING will be launching another call-for-partnership at the end of this year.
Entrepreneurs interested in Startup SG are encouraged to visit https://www.startupsg.net for more information.