Innovation flourishes in Singapore’s ‘conducive environment’ for tech start-ups

Singapore continues to foster successful technology start-ups through several government funding initiatives.

Professional venture capitalists such as Golden Gate Ventures have been involved from the start, providing early-stage funding through a range of agencies such as SPRING Singapore, which supports local small- and medium-sized enterprises. Last month, SPRING Singapore announced it was seeking co-investment partners for a new US$72.8 million venture capital fund.

The Action Community for Entrepreneurship recently hosted Fastbee.sg, a meal delivery hawker food service, which consolidates orders in the morning, at the FoodTech Solutions session. The company sends instructions to hawkers, picks up items and delivers the food to self-collection smart dispensers, helping hawkers increase their profit while bringing more food choices to busy workers.

Then there is the National Research Foundation Technology Incubation Scheme, which, via the venture accelerator Get2Volume, has funded over 100 early stage technology businesses over the past five years, including TabSquare, which develops electronic menus, and

Sprooki, a location-based

mobile engagement platform

for malls and retailers to coordinate advertising.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster, the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Economic Development Board have invested US$13.2 million in a new specialist biomedical facility: the NUS Centre for Additive Manufacturing. They aim to strengthen Singapore’s international position in the field of 3D printing, and partner companies like Creatz3d are printing 3D organ models for use in training and surgical simulation while others are developing orthopaedic implants to promote bone regrowth after brain surgery. Dr Francis Yeoh, professorial fellow, entrepreneurship, NUS, says: “The Singapore government is not one homogeneous entity – there are several agencies supporting start-ups ... for the most part, the government has done the right thing in policies and funding to help create a conducive environment for start-ups to thrive [in].”

Also, the government is making life more attractive for foreign entrepreneurs by removing the S$50,000

(HK$287,300) capital requirement for EntrePass, its foreign entrepreneurs fast-track immigrant programme.