Techventure 2015 Opens in Singapore

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, and Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, officially opened Techventure 2015 today at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre. The event is a is a premier technopreneurial platform for global venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and startup founders from around the world to meet, network and build business partnerships, with the aim of translating innovative ideas into exciting and useful products and services.

The first panel discussion included renowned venture capitalists and accelerator experts talking about current global trends in technopreneurship.

The panel was moderated by Mr Tim Lafferty, chief operating officer for Global Corporate Venturing at Mawsonia Ltd. It comprised panellists Mr Paolo Borella, founder of Vertical, the Health, Wellbeing & Wearables Accelerator; Mr Chris Wade, venture partner at Octopus Venure/Entrepreneur First; Mr Richard Webb, the CEO & co-founder of Start Mesh and Mr Foo Jixun, Managing Partner at GGV Capital.

Mr Foo, who is based in China, said the Internet is making tremendous change in people’s lives. He named factors such as mobile, shared economy, and IoT which are changing the world in a big way. What has changed, he said, is that it is no longer a product or service and the business model of start-ups is also changing. His company, for example, is also providing HR and PR services to start-ups. GGV Capital has been investing in shared economy start-ups.

Applauding Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, Mr Wade said that it is about big ideas, and big ideals. “It is about people with drive that makes the difference. It is about passion.”

He noted that people in Singapore with startup ideas can get seed funding here and start their businesses. He also observed that the fear of failure is not as prevalent – which is crucial for the innovation mind-set, he said.

Mr Webb said that he sees Singapore as a wonderful hub for startups. The nation plays a very important role in mid stage of the startup continuum. “We have 14,000 incubation labs in the world,” he said. “Universities and private enterprises are doing it but the problem is that there is no real home to validate the ideas of those who graduate from the incubators.” That’s where Singapore can play a role and take the start-ups to validation and profits.”

Mr Borella concluded that there is a huge trend for incubators, but there is still value for corporate to come on board and help companies scale up.