IdeaSpace Foundation has announced the opening of its annual startup competition for 2016, which has begun accepting early-stage startup ideas starting today, January 21. For this round of startups, IdeaSpace will also be implementing a new equity-free funding structure to aid teams in pursuing their innovative ideas.
“Ever since IdeaSpace was founded, we have declared our belief that Filipino entrepreneurs can turn their innovative startup ideas into reality and make it big on the world stage as long as there is an ecosystem to support them,” said Diane Eustaquio, Executive Director at IdeaSpace.
“With this new equity-free funding structure, IdeaSpace strengthens its commitment to the local startup ecosystem to bring out the most socially relevant innovations that can help solve pressing problems of the world, particularly in emerging economies such as the Philippines,” she added.
Two is better than one
This year’s competition will mark three changes to IdeaSpace’s structure, including the equity-free funding that they will implement. For this year, the competition will focus on the startup team as a group. One-man teams will still be able to apply, but IdeaSpace will require team expansion when the competition gets underway.
According to Eustaquio, this move will alleviate the pronounced difficulty that one-man teams of previous batches have encountered, citing 2014 startup Tactiles as an example.
Secondly, IdeaSpace will go on roadshows in eleven locations around the Philippines. These locations will be in Cebu, Davao, Bohol, Naga, Baguio, Katipunan, Makati, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, and Pampanga.
Finally, to get back to its promise of equity-free funding, IdeaSpace will be letting go of its previous structure of keeping 20% of the competition’s startups for investors. Eustaquio explains that IdeaSpace previously hoped to sell the shares to potential investors, but soon realized that these investors wished to give the shares back to the startup for their continued development. As a result, startups will receive the full 100%, rather than the previous 80%.
Ideas from across the country, region
Interested groups and individuals can now log on to apply.ideaspacefoundation.org to fill up the form and submit their startup ideas for evaluation until March 18, 2016. Submissions from around the Philippines, as well as in the Southeast Asian region, are welcome. (Non-Philippine startups that apply will receive the same benefits, but will need to stay in the country for a period during the competition.)
The top twenty ideas from this pool will be screened by an esteemed panel of judges, and the top 20 early-stage startups that will enter the incubation will be announced by July 5, 2016. After a six-week incubation period, at least ten startups will be selected to undergo a 4.5-month acceleration from August to December.
Those who enter the acceleration phase will have access to up to P1 million funding which will include up to P500,000 in cash, while non-cash benefits such as access to potential investors, links to strategic partner resources, housing, transportation, incorporation, office space, communications, software support, trainings, and classes, as well as mentoring from executives of companies under First Pacific.
For criteria, IdeaSpace will evaluate the market need (or clear customer pain point), the business model and size of local and global market, how unique and innovative the technology that will be used is, and how it can represent synergy and scale across various industries such as telecommunications, power, infrastructure, media, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, ICT, and the like.
IdeaSpace has helped give birth to about 38 startups over the last four years as part of its half a billion-peso funding that was instituted in 2012.
Some of the program’s most notable alumni include: SALt, a startup that has developed an innovative saltwater lamp and was featured in the recent APEC Summit 2015 in Manila; PinoyTravel, a startup which helps solve provincial bus reservation woes of commuters; Mobkard, which helps consumers save on purchases through discounts and promos; and, Tactiles, which developed an educational toy that helps children learn electronics while playing, among others.
The IdeaSpace Foundation is also spearheading the country’s first Innovation Hub that will provide a good medium for entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. Announced last year, IdeaSpace hopes to launch the Hub this July or August.
