Another new accelerator looking to groom S-E Asian tech startups

Singapore

AN accelerator that is looking to attract and groom tech startups and which has the backing of Australia-listed telco Telstra was launched on Wednesday, becoming at least the fifth accelerator to debut in Singapore this month.

A Telstra spokesman said muru-D will focus on software, hardware, business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), mobile, machine-to-machine, e-health, e-security and mobile-payment startups. It wants to take on 10 such fledgling South-east Asian businesses for its six-month accelerator programme starting in August. Applications open in May.

Successful teams will get S$40,000 in seed funding in exchange for six per cent equity; they will also get space in muru-D Singapore's office in the central business district, as well as access to mentors, investors and Telstra experts and a partly-subsidised trip to China or Silicon Valley, The Business Times has learnt.

That muru-D's accelerator programme will run for six months instead of the usual three or four will enable the entrepreneurs to go out and establish the relationships that are important to "get their startup to the business point", said the Telstra spokesman.

Alex Lin, head of Infocomm Investments, the venture-capital arm of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said: "We strongly believe the accelerator model is the best way to help high-impact tech startups mature in the shortest possible time."

This month alone, accelerators that were launched include Modern Ageing, Lithan EdTech Accelerator, SPH Plug & Play and Startupbootcamp FinTech.

Are there too many accelerators in Singapore? Vinnie Lauria, managing partner of venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures, said: "It's a little too many, which means not all accelerators will be able to recruit the best startups. This poses a problem because investors never want to take second-best."

But he praised corporate-backed accelerators such as Telstra's muru-D as good opportunities for big corporations to drive innovation and to take risks that they otherwise would not, in order to stay abreast of a rapidly-changing marketplace.

Non corporate-backed accelerators, on the other hand, have mentors who "volunteer" their time and have actual startup founding experience, an invaluable asset to young entrepreneurs, said Mr Lauria.

He said themed accelerators have been trending in the last three years. "Specialising in a vertical such as fintech and media enables such accelerators to differentiate themselves and compete with the more established players such as JFDI.Asia in Singapore and Y Combinator in the US."