Startup World Cup is back in Southeast Asia
Startup World Cup, a global competition to select the best startups outside of Silicon Valley, is back in Southeast Asia for pitches of innovative startup in its Startup World Cup 2020 round which kicked off in July this year, the fifth since the annual event was launched in June 2016.
The competition will be granting a $1,000,000 prize for the next world champion among the best startups from around the globe at the grand finale on May 22, 2020 in San Francisco. Beyond finding great startup companies, Startup World Cup says its mission was to support the development and growth of innovation ecosystems in regions across the planet and connect them to a global innovation network.
The world cup consists of more than 50 regional startup competitions around the world of which six are being held in Southeast Asia this time.
Starting with the Philippines
The first one for the current round was held in Quezon City, Philippines with the finale on November 22. Another two regional competitions will be taking place in Indonesia on November 26 in Jakarta and in Vietnam on December 6 in Halong Bay. The regional winner in Indonesia will receive $100,000, while both winners gain exposure and are being entered to win the final competition.
Three other competitions are in preparation for Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore in 2020 at times and dates yet to be announced.
“Business growth and venture capital investment in Southeast Asia is on the rise as is the competition for new companies to vie for funding,” Startup World Cup organisator Pegasus Tech Ventures, a venture capital firm based in San Jose, California, said.
“One significant way for startups in the region to gain attention and funding is by entering the upcoming regional competitions for the Startup World Cup, the largest startup competition in the world with conferences and competitions that bring together top startups, venture capital firms, entrepreneurs and tech CEOs,” the organisator added.
Startup World Cup appeals to companies from all sectors from both established and emerging sectors around the world. In general, companies in the pre-seed and seed stages are applying to the competition. Yet, there are also more mature companies, mainly in emerging markets, who are also interested in the $1-million reward they would use for investment.
Vietnamese startup wins 2019 competition
Southeast Asian startups have been particularly active in the competition in the past. In 2016, Ahlijasa, an on-demand platform for laundry services operating in Greater Jakarta, won the regional competition in Indonesia and also represented Southeast Asia in the grand finale of that round.
In the 2018 round, software-as-a-service cloud startup Runcloud.io from Malaysia emerged as the winner of the Startup World Cup Malaysia and was the Southeast Asian startup to participate in the grande finale in Silicon Valley.
But the 2019 round brought the greatest success for the region as Vietnamese startup Abivin, a company that developed an artificial intelligence-powered route optimisation and transport management platform, won the the $1-million top prize at the 2019 Startup World Cup in Silicon Valley back in May this year.
The Startup World Cup Grand Finale has featured prominent figures from the high tech community, including Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Reid Hoffman (founding CEO of LinkedIn), Marcelo Claure (COO of SoftBank Group), Ray Lane (former president & COO of Oracle), Marc Randolph (co-founder of Netflix), Adam Cheyer (co-founder of Siri), Vinod Khosla (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), as well as John Chambers (chairman emeritus of Cisco).
The competition further had veteran investors from Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, NEA, Techstars, Intel Capital, M12, 500 Startups, GE Ventures, DFJ, IBM Ventures, Social Capital, Index Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures, as well as investors from all over the world in the global and regional finals.
Startup World Cup, a global competition to select the best startups outside of Silicon Valley, is back in Southeast Asia for pitches of innovative startup in its Startup World Cup 2020 round which kicked off in July this year, the fifth since the annual event was launched in June 2016. The competition will be granting a $1,000,000 prize for the next world champion among the best startups from around the globe at the grand finale on May 22, 2020 in San Francisco. Beyond finding great startup companies, Startup World Cup says its mission was to support the development and growth...
Startup World Cup, a global competition to select the best startups outside of Silicon Valley, is back in Southeast Asia for pitches of innovative startup in its Startup World Cup 2020 round which kicked off in July this year, the fifth since the annual event was launched in June 2016.
The competition will be granting a $1,000,000 prize for the next world champion among the best startups from around the globe at the grand finale on May 22, 2020 in San Francisco. Beyond finding great startup companies, Startup World Cup says its mission was to support the development and growth of innovation ecosystems in regions across the planet and connect them to a global innovation network.
The world cup consists of more than 50 regional startup competitions around the world of which six are being held in Southeast Asia this time.
Starting with the Philippines
The first one for the current round was held in Quezon City, Philippines with the finale on November 22. Another two regional competitions will be taking place in Indonesia on November 26 in Jakarta and in Vietnam on December 6 in Halong Bay. The regional winner in Indonesia will receive $100,000, while both winners gain exposure and are being entered to win the final competition.
Three other competitions are in preparation for Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore in 2020 at times and dates yet to be announced.
“Business growth and venture capital investment in Southeast Asia is on the rise as is the competition for new companies to vie for funding,” Startup World Cup organisator Pegasus Tech Ventures, a venture capital firm based in San Jose, California, said.
“One significant way for startups in the region to gain attention and funding is by entering the upcoming regional competitions for the Startup World Cup, the largest startup competition in the world with conferences and competitions that bring together top startups, venture capital firms, entrepreneurs and tech CEOs,” the organisator added.
Startup World Cup appeals to companies from all sectors from both established and emerging sectors around the world. In general, companies in the pre-seed and seed stages are applying to the competition. Yet, there are also more mature companies, mainly in emerging markets, who are also interested in the $1-million reward they would use for investment.
Vietnamese startup wins 2019 competition
Southeast Asian startups have been particularly active in the competition in the past. In 2016, Ahlijasa, an on-demand platform for laundry services operating in Greater Jakarta, won the regional competition in Indonesia and also represented Southeast Asia in the grand finale of that round.
In the 2018 round, software-as-a-service cloud startup Runcloud.io from Malaysia emerged as the winner of the Startup World Cup Malaysia and was the Southeast Asian startup to participate in the grande finale in Silicon Valley.
But the 2019 round brought the greatest success for the region as Vietnamese startup Abivin, a company that developed an artificial intelligence-powered route optimisation and transport management platform, won the the $1-million top prize at the 2019 Startup World Cup in Silicon Valley back in May this year.
The Startup World Cup Grand Finale has featured prominent figures from the high tech community, including Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Reid Hoffman (founding CEO of LinkedIn), Marcelo Claure (COO of SoftBank Group), Ray Lane (former president & COO of Oracle), Marc Randolph (co-founder of Netflix), Adam Cheyer (co-founder of Siri), Vinod Khosla (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), as well as John Chambers (chairman emeritus of Cisco).
The competition further had veteran investors from Kleiner Perkins, Y Combinator, NEA, Techstars, Intel Capital, M12, 500 Startups, GE Ventures, DFJ, IBM Ventures, Social Capital, Index Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures, as well as investors from all over the world in the global and regional finals.
