Four Filipinos feature in the team Collabspot win S$25,000 at JFDI.Asia and a place for startup acceleration program. JFDI.Asia today unveiled eight digital start-up business teams set to run the marathon of its next gruelling 100 days idea-to-investment accelerator program. The race begins on 21 February at JFDI.Asia’s new purpose-built facility at 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore.

Each team has already won a prize: an immediate S$25,000 investment. Based on last year’s results, each also has a better-than-60% chance of winning S$600,000 or more at the Demo Day which marks the program’s finish line, when the team gets six minutes on stage to impress an audience of active early-stage investors.

Between now and Demo Day, each team must prove that its baby business can jump three hurdles: it must focus on a real-world problem that is worth solving, it must show that its solution fits that problem, and finally it must prove that the market is willing to pay for its solution. The challenge is less about brilliant ideas than it is about focused execution. Only one thing is certain: it will not be a straight run and, along the way, many teams will need to make painful ‘pivots’ — changes of direction — as they respond to feedback from users.

“It is an incredibly exciting time to be doing this work. Around the world, accelerator programs like ours are evolving a consistent way to direct innovation, teach entrepreneurship and manage the risks involved. Early-stage business is becoming less of an art and more of a science.” Hugh Mason, co-founder and CEO at JFDI.Asia

The teams all have temporary names for now, knowing that their businesses are very likely to evolve. They aim to make money from business models that span Business-to-Business (B–B), Business to Consumer (B–C) and Consumer-Consumer (C–C). Mobile technology underpins most of them, reflecting the fact that mobile devices are fast emerging as the way most Asians get online:

• AskAbt, from India, have a platform to manage real-time crowdsourced queries
• Collabspot, from France and Philippines, have a novel approach to Customer Relationship Management
• DayTripR, from Singapore and New Zealand, have an online data collection utility
• DocTree, from Singapore and India, have software for medical practice management
• Duable Chinese (讀able), from the USA, make Chinese language learning fun and effective
• Fashfix, from Singapore and Malaysia, helps fashionistas turn their wardrobes into blog shops
• My Fitness Wallet, from Singapore, are working on health and wellness
• Referoll, from Singapore and Vietnam, have a business that recruits participants for research studies

Source: JFDI.Asia