Three Filipino startups won the top prizes at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) 2017 Innovation Festival held in Tainan, Taiwan. The startups that won are Edukasyon.ph, Healthblocks, and LX Innovative Solutions. The Pinoy teams bested over 30 other startups from different countries including Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Israel.
The startup competition involved two major activities, a 60-second elevator pitch on stage and a 5-10-minute demo on the startup booths. These were what venture capitalists (VCs) based on when judging startups that they would want to invest on. VCs were given chips to invest in startups that they like. The startups with the most number of investments were considered the winners.
STSP 2017 Innovation Festival is part of the series of events leading to ANCHORUP 2018, an initiative “with a vision to promote diverse economic opportunities and collaboration between SEA and Taiwan, in line with the Taiwan’s Government’s New Southbound Policy.” ANCHORUP 2018 is a three-leg event including the following:
- Forum (Demo), which was held last November 6 to 8 in Tainan, Taiwan
- Summit (Pitch), which is a 2-day Tech Summit with top startups pitching on a moving yacht outside Kaohsiung harbor in Taiwan
- ISP Pre-Accelerator, which is program that aims to connect startups with key startup stakeholders to raise funds, acquire talents and gain market access
Gideon Venture Capital picked out the Philippine startups that were sent to compete at ANCHORUP 2018. Gideon Venture Capital aims to “capitalize on the burgeoning economic growth of the Philippines.” Most of its investments focus on technology, business services, digital lifestyle and commerce, and social impact.
Aside from the startups, general partners of Gideon Venture Capital, Geoffrey Nuval, Edison Tsai, and Anson Uy also attended the competition and the kickoff of ANCHORUP 2018.
Gideon Venture Capital is also working on a web series Unicorn Diaries, which aims to provide a peek into the world of startups and discover the next Philippine Unicorn. In business, the term “unicorn” is a startup company valued at more than a billion dollars.
Looking for inspiration for your startup or just interested in startups, then Unicorn Diaries is for you. Wait for it…
