Four Singapore start-ups complete Telstra-backed accelerator programme

SINGAPORE — Four Singapore-based startups have successfully completed a six-month programme organised by accelerator muru-D.

Part of the third cohort in the accelerator — backed by Australian telco Telstra — the group of ten startups across Asia have collectively secured more than 100,000 customers, amassed over $500,000 in revenue, and raised some $2 million in funding, Telstra and muru-D jointly announced on Friday.

As part of the programme, Singapore startups CarePod, Idem Hospitality, KNOW and Vybes each received $75,000 in funding, mentorship, training and international networking opportunities.

CarePod is a startup which provides a range of “premium travel solutions” to make pet air travel safer, ranging from first class ‘pods’ for pets to travel in, to live tracking of pets, to a specialised logistics software solution for airlines to help manage their entire pet business.

Idem Hospitality helps hotels manage and market their group reservations business through Idem’s cloud-based software, while KNOW is a mobile communications and productivity platform built for companies to manage their frontline “deskless” workers by allowing management to, among other things, share tasks, receive live updates and manage attendance.

Vybes provides tools for marketers on social media platform Instagram to sell products and services they create directly to their audience.

“We are pleased to continue to foster innovation and entrepreneurism, and support the startup ecosystem across Asia-Pacific. The potential of startups represent the ability to solve real problems faced by people globally and we are proud to play an integral role in making it happen through our muru-D programs,” said Julie Trell, head of muru-D.

Originally published at www.straitstimes.com on May 11, 2018.