Is the Singapore start-up scene dead?

I had just attended the Startup Asia Singapore event, and the question of whether the start-up scene here in Singapore is dead often popped up in my conversations.

One of the highlight of the event was a networking panel session involving several well-known venture capital firms, some coming from India, Japan, Israel and as far as Russia. The perspectives of these VCs on the local scene were quite eye-opening and at times contradictory. One of the panellists was of the opinion that innovation here was lacking and that start-ups were too conservative in setting their goals, lacking the killer instincts of Silicon Valley start-ups that often seek world domination.

Another took a more positive approach, commenting that Singapore start-ups, perhaps shaped by Singapore’s well-known trait of being efficient, tend to focus on “making things work better” as opposed to their counterparts elsewhere ( example being given was India) where the need to improve lives drives real innovation. This actually reminded me of a story told to me by an Indian business associate about Nokia garnering a large market share of phones in India by simply incorporating a flashlight feature into their phones. I’m sure the thought of having a flashlight handy is not as obvious or as needy to a person living in Singapore, compared to one in a remote Indian village.

In my past life, I was involved in two start-ups that exited reasonably well, and had the opportunity to refresh my own perspective of the start-up scene here when I embarked on a new venture a little more than a year ago. While I must admit that the start-up landscape here is far from that in Silicon Valley, I argue that it is still alive and kicking.

Singapore is a hub for South-east Asia, if not South Asia, and is attracting thriving venture capital interest. Top tier venture capital firms are already operating or opening here, and I recently encountered several start-ups from Silicon Valley and the region intending to set up shop here.

The start-up ecosystem here is healthy. I’m receiving invites from people who are hosting events ranging from bar-camps to simple meet-ups. There are well attended venture-related events the likes of Techventure, Demo Asia, Startup Asia Singapore, Echelon and many others. Supporting publications like e27, SGEntrpreneurs, Penn-Olsen and SingaporeStartup are aplenty.

The Singapore government has done its part in livening up the party. Funding and grant schemes abound: the IDM Jump-start and Mentor (i.JAM) programme, YES! Start-ups, Business Angel Funds (BAF), Early-Stage Venture Funding Scheme (EVFS), SPRING Startup Enterprise Development Scheme (SPRING SEEDS), Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme (TECS) - just to name a few.

The National Research Foundation (NRF) recently announced that it will allow more investors to take part in the Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS), which not only helps get funding for the start-ups, but also provides them with mentorship. Industry associations are also playing a part – for example the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation has a 123 Jumpstart platform (a disclaimer that I’m the Chair of the platform) to facilitate funding and mentorship for local start-ups in the infocomm technology space.

All these happenings augur well for Singapore. The start-up scene here is thriving and growing, and while it may take some time and even more hard work, it’s not unimaginable that we could get to the Silicon Valley buzz-level one day.
 

Roger Yuen, Founder & CEO at Clozette and Publisher at Glam Asia