By Chloe Cabrera
After a rigorous two-month incubation program, local start-up incubator and accelerator IdeaSpace Foundation has declared 10 winners of its second annual tech start-up competition — each set to receive P1 million worth of seed investment, training, and services.
Competition results were unveiled during the Ideaspace 2014 awards night Thursday, June 5, at the Meralco Lighthouse in Ortigas, following the 17 finalists? prototype presentations and judging earlier that day.
The 10 winning start-ups, which all came from Luzon, are:
? Filipino-themed mobile gaming studio BluLemons (Dasmarinas, Cavite)
? Online Philippine travel platform FlipTrip.ph (Taguig) for itinerary customization and booking
? Online and mobile platform MyChild (Quezon City) for parents and schools to work together to maximize a child?s learning
? 3-fold bicycle Nyfti (Manila) that can be pushed or carried anywhere
? Advanced pressure management and pump control tool R-TAP (Quezon City), for efficient water distribution
? Sustainable, cost effective ecologically designed lamp SALt (Lipa City), powered by water and table-salt
? Modular learning platform Tactiles (Laguna) for friendly and effective electronics education
? Advertising platform Tambio (Manila/ Quezon City), consolidating raffles in a website and smartphone application
? Software-as-service cloud solution SmartFleet (Makati/ Caloocan/ Paranaque), enabling transport fleets with operations, automation, telemetry, booking, and analytics
? Online energy management platform WattSmart (Pasig/ Quezon City), monitoring real-time electricity consumption of businesses, industries, and households
According to IdeaSpace chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, the winners are representative of a wide variety of relevant tech solutions for emerging markets.
?The potential is not just local but global and IdeaSpace is here to support these young innovators who took the risk and accepted the challenge,? he said.
Victors are set to enter the competition?s final 18-week phase, the ?Acceleration Phase?, wherein they will have to set up their own corporation, participate in programs and mentoring sessions, and present bi-monthly progress reports.
In addition to IdeaSpace?s funding and business support, the top start-ups will also be given office space and lodgings for non-Makati residents. The foundation will also link these start-ups to other companies for market runway.
Start-ups that successfully complete the final phase will be eligible to receive additional equity of up to P5 million upon due evaluation of the foundation, within two months following the acceleration program.
The winners for IdeaSpace?s second competition, as well as the other finalists, bested over 600 start-up entries from all around the country.
The finalists went through a three-day bootcamp and two-month incubation program, allowing them to be mentored and trained in entrepreneurship, business, and marketing.
Finalists were also given an initial grant worth P100,000, inclusive of a P50,000 mobilization fund.
Pangilinan also commended the other seven finalists during the awards program, announcing IdeaSpace?s commitment to provide variable support to them based on further evaluation and deliberation.
?We congratulate the Top 10 IdeaSpace start-ups that made the cut for 2014. But we will continue to support those that were not able to make it, because it?s important that we continue helping these start-ups providing critical innovation that our country needs,? Pangilinan said.
?They?re already pointed in the right direction. So we simply want to help them, mentor them, on the solutions they have developed,? he noted.
Pangilinan also expressed his thoughts on how to nourish the local start-up ecosystem, saying ?I think the country needs to bias, in the first place, the educational system towards science, engineering, and IT.?
IdeaSpace is currently supporting 24 start-ups, including its winners for 2014 and 2013, and others who received support outside of its yearly competition.
Last year?s batch of winners included budding start-ups like bus reservation app Pinoy Travel, enterprise queuing solution Time Free, knee implant company Arthrologic, creative talent job site PortfolioMNL, and consumer rewards platform MobKard.
