Rising Startups Shine in Southeast Asia
Sisi Jin, Strategy Analyst at Aerospace Xelerated, shares highlights from her recent trip to Singapore to discover innovative startups in the region.
September’s Tech in Asia Conference, the largest annual flagship event for Asia’s tech and startup community, highlighted the region’s optimism despite a global gloomy outlook.
Taking place in Singapore from 21 to 22 September 2022, the eleventh edition of the Conference — with its theme ‘Southeast Asia: Built to last’ — served up 72 speakers and judges and attracted more than 4,000 attendees.
While the world continues to face uncertainty in growth, the outlook for Southeast Asia is generally positive with exciting ideas that will help propel the region forward. It has sustainable GDP growth, even during 2022’s troubled market conditions, and this momentum looks likely to continue with active fundraising and fast-growing startups.
It was awesome to represent Aerospace Xelerated and showcase our presence in Southeast Asia for the first time, as well as meet up with local startups, investors and ecosystem builders.
Startup Factory & Speed Dating
I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with more than 200 startups in their Startup Factory booths in the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre.
Not only did I get the chance to chat with some amazing startup founders and really get to understand their products, but I also got to invite some to apply for a place on Cohort 4 of Aerospace Xelerated programme before our 2 October application deadline.
Many startups would perhaps consider the aerospace sector to be rather niche, as well as difficult to enter. So, this proved to be a fantastic opportunity to introduce Aerospace Xelerated to Southeast Asian startups and explain our appetite for digital solutions and disruptive technology.
Take, for example, one Malaysian startup developing metaverse products that I encountered during Tech in Asia’s Speed Dating event — the Conference’s signature segment designed to help investors and founders explore significant prospects and funding opportunities.
I had a brilliant brainstorming session with its founders and discussed potential opportunities and use cases for its metaverse products, such as optimising passenger experience during flights or driving marketing campaigns in airshows.
We’re looking forward to having further interactions and synergies with more innovative startups in Southeast Asia over the coming year.
Aerospace Xelerated is a 3-month funded programme for exceptional startups to accelerate the sustainable growth of the aerospace industry, led by Boeing. Learn more about our work in our FAQ or book an Office Hours call to chat with the programme team.
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