After months of preparation, the Incubation, Development, and Entrepreneurial Assistance (IDEA) incubation program hosted its first demo day virtually on Wednesday, June 15.
The 19 start-ups that composed the program’s inaugural cohort eagerly pitched their business models to potential investors and partners during the online event.
IDEA is one of two incubation programs opened for the first time in January this year by the non-profit PhilDev Foundation (Phildev) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). IDEA aims to nurture the country’s most promising early-stage start-ups.
Early-stage start-ups are technology businesses that are testing or have recently released their products and they typically focus on product development, expanding their customer base, and establishing a strong cash flow. After being selected in February, the 19 start-ups tackled the program’s gauntlet of camps, workshops, and mentorship sessions.
“It wasn’t an easy four months, but we’re extremely proud of what [our start-ups] have accomplished so far,” said Patricia Siriban, program manager of the IDEA Incubator Program as she introduced the companies.
Spanning industries as diverse as agritech, healthtech, and renewable energy to automotive, public transport, and real estate the start-ups in the program’s inaugural cohort include:
- AniTech – A start-up that helps producers and distributors minimize food waste through technology that reports the quality of their products during harvest time or in storage.
- Sureplus — A website and upcoming mobile app that connects farmers, restaurants, and groceries with surplus produce to conscious consumers on the look-out for deals.
- Basky — An online marketplace and delivery app made exclusively for homecooks and food-based MSMEs.
- Bookuna — A vaccination booking platform that helps Filipinos easily locate local health centers and private clinics with available vaccine bookings.
- Lifeprentice — An online platform that aims to help institutions look after the holistic health of their students by providing an assessment tool and wellness programs.
- Avodah — A one-stop app where users can avail of almost any service, such as maintenance services like plumbing, electrical, car, and air conditioner maintenance.
- Sociov — A mobile app that enables parents to avail of a career coach’s for their children.
- Forent — An online marketplace for short-term renting of wide variety of products, encompassing vacation properties, automobiles, clothing, and equipment.
- iBoard Living — A rental property management platform that enables tenants to search for rentals and interact with landlords as well as empowers owners to manage their rentals.
- Green Impact Global — A digital platform that both companies and individuals to calculate their carbon emissions and fund carbon offset activities such as tree planting.
- Cleenvent — A company that strives for cleaner air in all homes by developing an adaptable, solar-powered exhaust vent to improve air circulation.
- Dali Innovations Inc — This energy company designed VORTEx, an affordable, accessible, and easily set-up wind turbine that aims to electrify to rural areas with clean energy.
- DigitizePH — This company pioneered BayanMo, a city information platform that enables LGUs and their residents to stay updated on announcements and communicate in real time.
- Bantay Chatbot — A social protection chatbot that provides information on the government’s social welfare services and collects feedback to generate accountability reports.
- SafeTravelPH — A nonprofit that provides insights and studies about the country’s transport issues by developing technology that enables them to analyze the public transport system.
- CarSurvey.PH — The first online, used car appraisal platform developed specifically for the Philippine automotive market.
- Britana Global Solutions — An ERP solution for SMEs that empowers these businesses to manage their accounting, invoicing, and billing from one, affordable, no-code software.
- Rafflexchange — A platform for raffle transactions that inexpensively hosts raffles for sales promotions, loyalty programs, fundraisers, and other events.
- tinda — a food and delivery platform that concentrates on serving restaurants and customers in the provinces.
The launch of the IDEA and its sister incubation program Accelerating Development, Valuation, and Corporate Entrepreneurship (ADVanCE) this year is a sign of the increasing weight of start-ups in the Philippine economy and subsequently the effort invested in cultivating them, the organizers said.
“As you join the roster of Philippine start-ups, we are confident that your dedication and learnings will contribute significantly in the development of a robust start-up ecosystem,” said Rafaelita Aldaba, undersecretary for the DTI’s Competitiveness and Innovation Group, as she congratulated the IDEA program’s first batch of start-ups.
Aldaba noted during her speech that the 2022 Global Startup Ecosystem Report recorded a sharp increase in Manila’s Start-up Ecosystem Value. From $584 million in 2021, the report showed that it had grown to $2.1 billion in 2022.
Francisco “Paco” Sandejas, chairperson of the Phildev Foundation, added as he closed the event: “At Phildev, we believe that our start-up ecosystem has a tremendous potential to boost inclusive economic growth in our country. It is alive and growing fast, the 2022 Philippines Venture Capital report reveals an increase in funding raised by Filipino start-ups last year in 2021 amounting to a total of $1.03 billion. It’s a wonderful start as we bounce forward to a new normal, but we need to keep the momentum going.”
“We truly hope that this demo day provides you with the avenue to connect and collaborate among yourselves, not only with investors, but also with new customers, stakeholders, and program partners. After all, it takes a village to raise a start-up,” Sandejas said.
