Malaysia’s 1337 Ventures goes to Philippines with Alpha Startups

Alpha Startups website.

By Liz Lee

October 6, 2015

Malaysia-based startup venture firm and accelerator 1337 Ventures is bringing its pre-accelerator programme Alpha Startups to the Philippines to tap into the region’s growing startup fervour.

The expansion to the Philippines is in partnership with the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Cebu-based non-profit tech organisation Techtalks.ph.

The partners said, the pre-accelerator programme serves as a building block of the Philippine startup roadmap, which aims to create 500 startups with total valuation of $2 billion by 2020, Tech in Asia reported.

“The bootcamp will help early-stage startups get off the ground by teaching them the basics of building a digital business. This is a gap we currently see in the Philippine startup ecosystem that this initiative will help address,” deputy executive director of the DOST’s information and communication technology office, Monchito Ibrahim said.

CEO Bikesh Lakhmichand said, 1337 Ventures have always believed that the Philippines is a lucrative market to launch startups.

“It has a large unbanked population, one of the biggest inbound transactions, and great talent,” Lakhmichand said, in a report in Tech in Asia.

Alpha Startups is a five-day bootcamp open to existing startups and new business ideas; its inaugural session to be held on November 9 to 13 in Cebu province. Twenty-five startups will be selected to join.

“The idea is to give a leg up to first-time entrepreneurs. The top 10 teams will get to pitch at demo day to early-stage investors,” Lakhmichand added.

Of the 10, the top three will get a “small cash injection” and $5,000 in Amazon Web Services credit from 1337 Ventures. The teams will also receive continuous mentoring from the Malaysian venture capital firm for the subsequent two months.

Alpha Startups has been running in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Thus far, 171 startups and close to 400 entrepreneurs had enrolled in the programme, with some 11 startups successfully raising pre-seed funding, while another 12 startups received public grants in their respective countries, post the programme.

Alpha Startups is aiming to enter the Indonesian market next.

Also read:

1337 Ventures partners Maybank to unearth best SEA FinTech startups

Maybank’s fintech startup programme garners participation from 115 tech firms

Katalyst.ph plans startup funding event in Philippines

Philippines, APEC form new startup conference ‘SlingshotMNL’

IIX Asia picks 4 PH social enterprises for Impact Accelerator program

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW