MillionDC, an award-winning Taiwan-based startup co-founded by former Filipino journalist Paolo Lising, has launched a crowd-funding campaign that seeks to build a platform that will connect startups in developing country to Taiwan.
MillionDC?s goal is well-aligned with Taiwan?s plan to invite foreign startups in its bid to make the island the hub of startups in Asia.
Taiwan has recognized the need for a facelift in its startup ecosystem. ?Taiwan was a major player in the PC/notebook era, but is failing to keep up with the new trend in the mobile/Internet era,? according to the National Development Council (NDC) document titled ?HeadStart Taiwan?.
?MillionDC is seeking the help of the crowd via Indiegogo to realize its goal of providing startups in developing countries a soft landing to Taiwan. This project comes in as an online solution to the government?s push to again become a tech leader in Asia,? said Lising.
?As we are headquartered in Taipei, we plan to link startups from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand to Taiwan,? Lising said.
Lising noted that the needs of the startups in developing countries are much different than those in highly developed nations.
?They need education down to the very basics. The available networking platforms are mostly designed for those with advanced knowledge in building a startup. MillionDC.com will match what startups in developing countries exactly needs,? he said.
?We plan to build an online platform MillionDC.com, create educational materials, and conduct workshops for founders from developing countries. We aim to raise $30,000 to realize our plans,? he added.
The website www.milliondc.com will be used for hosting stories of successful startups and their journey. The website is also a place where users can have access to educational materials which were created in partnership with professionals from startup industry.
?MillionDC workshops provide meaningful person-to-person consultations with our experts. We plan to visit different locations across countries and help as many young entrepreneurs in developing regions as possible,? Lising said.
MillionDC has already won an award as Top 100 Startups in Asia in 2015. The MillionDC.com story has also been featured in a book titled ?Cyberpreneur Philippines?, which was a National Book Awards finalist in 2016.
