The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) has officially welcomed the ninth cohort to the Australian Landing Pad in Singapore. This brings the number of startups making the leap from Australia to Singapore via the Landing Pad program to 41 since its first cohort that started in March 2017.
While being sector agnostic, the program has seen a high number of cybersecurity, edtech, medtech and logistics startups land in Singapore. These startups have gone on to collaborate with more than 60 corporate and government entities in the region – a testament of the Landing Pad's credibility.
To date, 92 per cent of graduated startups has continued doing business across Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. They have since opened 21 offices in ASEAN, in turn driving local recruitment.
The latest batch of startups includes Coevolve, a startup which helps enterprises and channel partners adopt the best next-generation network technologies. Coevolve has deployed its solutions in more than 50 countries across six continents. Another startup to note is out-of-home patient care platform, CTARS, founded by clinicians and consultants, which has its software implemented in over 40 organisations across Australia. They are now looking to expand into Southeast Asia given the regional alignment to Australia's quality and compliance practices across the care sector.
And not forgetting deep-tech startup PI. The exchange that builds and operates scalable artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications in a cost-effective way. In the last three months, they have signed two corporate customers in Singapore and are looking to ramp up their recruitment to meet the increasing demand for their solution.
Taliessin Reaburn, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, Austrade Singapore said,
"Australia's entrepreneurs have so much to offer Singapore and the region, and the Landing
Pad program is accelerating their entry and success here. Singapore is evolving rapidly as a
global innovation hub and is a fantastic location to start their venture into Southeast Asia. The
90-day programme has a proven record in allowing startups to navigate Southeast Asia's
business environment, making sense of not just its tremendous opportunities but also of its
different cultural and economic nuances. I'm delighted to welcome the next cohort and help
them take the next step in strengthening cross-border innovation."
In 2017 alone, the funding amount for Southeast Asian late-stage startups was US$7.86 billion
(S$10.8 billion) 1. However, as the region grows exponentially, there is a shortage of homegrown
tech talent – as highlighted in Google and Temasek's 2017 2 joint report.
One of the Landing Pad's alumni, Codebots, whose platform enables organisations to transform
their legacy systems for continuous modernisation digitally, recently raised their Series A
funding at AUD 1.4 million. They currently have partners in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore
as part of their ASEAN expansion plan. Startups like CEC Systems who created the world's first
semi-automatic collapsible container has also expanded regionally with a team in Singapore
and a production facility in Vietnam.
Edtech startup Global Study Partners meanwhile signed upat least five new education institutions in Southeast Asia during their stint at the Landing Pad, to provide access, expertise, platform and services needed to empower students to study anywhere in the world. They now have an office in Vietnam with eight hires to support students from the region.
"We believe that our startups can not only offer technical expertise for the region's digital
growth but also offer job opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
and upskill the local talent pool," added Samantha Mark, Landing Pad Manager for Singapore.
Austrade's Landing Pad in Singapore will continue to guide and support these startups to fine-
tune their offerings and market adaptation, and identify partners, customers and investors, for
access into the Southeast Asia market.
