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S$20m to be set aside for budding entrepreneurs

SINGAPORE — For first-time entrepreneurs who are starting out, a budget of around S$20 million will be set aside under the Startup SG initiative announced earlier this month.

The JTC LaunchPad @ One North. TODAY file photo

The JTC LaunchPad @ One North. TODAY file photo

SINGAPORE — For first-time entrepreneurs who are starting out, a budget of around S$20 million will be set aside under the Startup SG initiative announced earlier this month.

Revealing the details of the new Startup SG Founder scheme, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon said yesterday that it will support entrepreneurs with “innovative ideas to start their businesses with mentorship support and a start-up capital grant”.

The scheme replaces the existing ACE Startups Grant for first-time entrepreneurs and iJam Tier 1 grant for fledgling firms in the interactive digital media sector. Successful applicants will be teamed up with Accredited Mentor Partners (AMPs) which will include incubators and accelerators. The AMPs will provide advice, networking and learning opportunities, as well as help first-timers obtain pre-seed funding, Mr Koh said.

He was speaking at an event marking the opening of three new blocks at JTC LaunchPad @ one-north. These blocks will house 48 start-ups and three incubators, bringing the size of the community at the complex to more than 4,300 people from 800 start-ups and almost 50 incubators.

Opened in 2015, JTC LaunchPad has seen its population triple over the years. The new tenants include The Trendlines Group’s first Asia-based incubator Trendlines Medical Singapore and autonomous vehicle start-up nuTonomy.

Another LaunchPad is scheduled for completion in the Jurong Innovation District later this year. When completed, it will provide space to cluster advanced manufacturing and engineering start-ups.

On Tuesday, a global survey by United States-based Startup Genome project found that Singapore is the best place in the world for start-ups to hire talent, beating even Silicon Valley. However, the Republic fell in the overall ranking for start-up ecosystems, with weaknesses flagged in areas such as funding and experience.

Commenting on the report, Mr Koh told reporters that the survey findings presented good news on the talent front. However, that is just one aspect of an ecosystem, he noted.

“There is still work in progress. We need to strengthen the rest of the ecosystem by ensuring that the ... regulatory framework is there, and also the ecosystem must be vibrant enough to support this talent,” he said.

On the limited access to funding for start-ups, Mr Koh said there are not enough critical mass of venture capitalists (VCs) or private funds at the moment, but the situation should improve over time.

In the meantime, while the Government can provide funding, there needs to be a balance to ensure that support is not “overly generous”. As the ecosystem develops, the private sector would gradually play a bigger role in terms of funding, he noted.

“It is an evolving scene, and as we mature more, the right balance hopefully will be achieved,” he said.

The Startup SG initiative was first announced during the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Committee of Supply debate.

It brings together the support schemes for start-ups. Among other measures, the investment cap on Government’s co-investment support for promising deep technology start-ups will be doubled to S$4 million, while the level of support will also go up from 50 per cent to 70 per cent. In all, the Government has allocated about S$200 million to co-invest in start-ups, Mr Koh said yesterday. Angela Teng

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