HyperX, World’s First Sustainability Hackcelerator, to Launch This Weekend
Stellar line-up of industry mentors, judges to guide aspiring startups creating innovative sustainable solutions at HyperHack
5 November, Singapore: The world’s first global sustainability hackcelerator will kick off on 8 November with a 3-day hackathon that will see global changemakers descend on Singapore to ideate and build solutions for a better and more sustainable future.
HyperHack, the first leg of the year-long HyperX global innovation programme jointly supported by StartupX and Temasek, has attracted over 150 innovators and aspiring startups eager to create products and services that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These can range from meeting the growing global demand for food and water without harming the environment, to addressing the specific needs of an ageing population.
Guiding the participants at HyperHack will be industry trailblazers, sustainability thought leaders, venture capitalists and tech luminaries from across Asia. These mentors bring with them a myriad of experiences and insights from diverse sectors and companies including Alpha JWC, Carousell, Cocoon Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Google, Sunseap, UNDP, Unilever Foundry and Vertex Ventures, to name a few.
Judges include Desmond Koh, Managing Director, BNP Paribas, Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited, Feng-Yuan Liu, Co-Founder, BasisAI, Jacqueline Poh, Deputy Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office, Jon Allaway, Chief Technology Officer, Temasek, Lim Qing Ru, Partner, True Global Ventures, Paul Meyers, Investment Advisor, Asian Development Bank, Peter Ho, CEO, HopeTechnik and Royce Teo, MD & Group Head — Data Management, DBS Bank. * For the full list of judges and mentors, please refer to Annex A and B respectively.
Durwin Ho, Chief Executive Officer, StartupX: “We are delighted to be working with such an esteemed group of industry leaders and partners to guide and mentor the participants. Their expertise and knowledge will provide invaluable guidance to passionate changemakers keen on driving sustainable solutions from ideation to realisation. We hope through HyperHack, and the foresight of our mentors, that participants will gain valuable insights and ideas for greater impact and scalability.”
The HyperHack will also feature a Datathon segment, where participants will access synthetic data and analytics toolkits to build innovative data-driven solutions focused on bettering health outcomes and financial well-being. Besides tapping on IMDA’s regulatory sandbox to explore trusted data sharing, the Datathon is also supported by corporates such as NTUC Social Enterprises, DBS, DataSpark and Singapore Airlines as well as industry partners including Data Republic.
Said Jon Allaway, Chief Technology Officer, Temasek and HyperHack Judge: “Technology can play a transformative role in addressing the biggest challenges the world faces today. HyperHack has attracted global talent with an entrepreneurial spirit to tackle sustainability challenges that can help our future generations. As part of the judging panel, I look forward to hearing and evaluating innovative solutions that are scalable, and will be able to put our planet on a more sustainable footing.”
HyperHack marks the start of the HyperX hackathon-to-accelerator programme, the first of its kind bringing together innovators and entrepreneurs from across the globe to drive sustainable solutions from ideation to realisation.
The 150 participants joining the HyperHack come from a diverse range of disciplines, ranging from data science, programming, design, marketing and business development. In line with the global nature of the event, submissions spanned across Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, France, Maldives and the United States.
Aside from the masterclasses and mentoring opportunities at HyperHack, participants will also stand a chance of winning cash and sponsored prizes worth up to S$155,000 and an exclusive invite for a fast-track entry into the HyperSpark pre-accelerator programme. Additional sponsors include Amazon Web Services, OSOME, Lark, LEVEL3, Reassemble, Social Collider, Stripe and Talenox.
About HyperX
The HyperX hackathon-to-accelerator programme, the first of its kind centered on innovating for a better and more sustainable future, has been co-developed with Singapore-headquartered investment company Temasek. The first stage in the HyperX programme is HyperHack, a global sustainability hackathon. This will be followed by HyperSpark, a pre-accelerator programme to develop teams with the strongest ideas into fully fledged startups. The final leg of the HyperX programme, HyperScale, is a high-growth accelerator which will help early-stage startups with a minimum viable product scale their sustainable innovations globally.
For more details on HyperX, please visit https://www.hyperx.global/
About StartupX
StartupX is a pioneering consultancy that serves to enable and synergise innovation in corporates and startups. Through our unique community focus, we have established a robust network of startup luminaries, investors, mentors and resources to elevate the early-stage startup ecosystem in Southeast Asia and beyond.
The team comes with deep-seated expertise in understanding the growth needs of corporates and startups, bridging connections to foster meaningful partnerships and enable access to innovation platforms. We curate bespoke innovation programmes that maximise business successes and build ecosystems, communities, corporates and startups.
StartupX, at its core, is a catalyst that aims to drive impactful innovation on a global scale. We constantly strive to enrich and value-add to the community that we are a part of and bridge the gap between corporates and startups.
Visit https://www.thestartupx.com for more information.
About Temasek
Temasek is a Singapore-headquartered investment company with a net portfolio value of S$313 billion (US$231b) as of 31 March 2019.
Our Temasek Charter roles as an investor, institution and steward shape our investment stance, ethos and philosophy, to do well, do right and do good.
Six structural trends help shape our investment direction in Temasek: longer lifespans, rising affluence and sustainable living drive social progress, enabled by technological solutions for sharing economies, smarter systems and a more connected world.
We actively seek sustainable solutions to address present and future challenges, as we capture investment and other opportunities that help to bring about a better, smarter and more sustainable world.
For more information on Temasek, please visit https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/index.html
About Data Republic
Data Republic is the Asia Pacific’s leading governance platform for data innovation. Data Republic’s Senate Platform enables data leaders to confidently govern data analytics projects, protect customer privacy and enforce licensing terms across multi-party data projects. With Data Republic, you can protect customer privacy while unlocking the benefits of secure, governed access to data. Data Republic has offices in Sydney (HQ), Singapore and LA, and is backed by Singtel Innov8, Singapore Airlines, ANZ, Reinventure, Qantas Loyalty, NAB Ventures, Qualgro and Ryder Innovation Fund. Learn more about Data Republic’s offering at www.datarepublic.com
Annex A — List of Judges for HyperHack
● Barbara Guerpillon, Director, Unilever Foundry
● Christian H. Cadeo, Managing Partner, Big Idea Ventures
● Desmond Koh, Managing Director, BNP Paribas
● Dr Daniel Lim Yew Mao, Deputy Director (Data Strategy), Smart Nation and Digital Government Office
● Dr Hong Cao, Director & Head of ASEAN, Data Science, Ernst & Young
● Dr Michael Zeller, CEO, Dynam.AI
● Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited
● Feng-Yuan Liu, Co-Founder, BasisAI
● Gunjan Soni, CEO, Zalora
● Jacqueline Poh, Deputy Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office
● James Chang, CEO, Lazada Singapore
● Jon Allaway, Chief Technology Officer, Temasek
● Lim Kok-Leong, Regional Director, CKDelta
● Lim Qing Ru, Partner, True Global Ventures
● Mark Lim, Managing Director, Digital Technology, Temasek
● Miguel Fernandes, Lead Data Scientist, BCG Gamma
● Parimal Aswani, Director, Technology, Temasek
● Paul Meyers, Investment Advisor, Asian Development Bank
● Peter Ho, CEO, HopeTechnik
● Royce Teo, MD & Group Head — Data Management, DBS Bank
● Tushar Kuchhal, Executive Vice-President, Head of Enterprise Tech, Lazada
● Yanni Mechtler, Consultant: Data Science & Exchange, Data Republic
Annex B — List of Mentors
● Alan Hellawell, Venture Partner, Alpha JWC Ventures
● Alvin Ea, CEO & Founder, Haulio
● Archana Seshadrinathan, Senior Expert, McKinsey
● Arndt Husar, Senior Advisor, Global Centre for Technology, Innovation & Sustainable Development, UNDP
● Ben Sheridan, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group
● Carmen Yuen, Partner, Vertex Ventures
● Casper Peh, Head of Portfolio Finance, Golden Gate Ventures
● David Chua, CEO, National Youth Council
● Eugene Wang, Founder and CEO, Sophie’s Kitchen
● Ian Stokes-Rees, Associate Director, BCG Gamma
● Jason Bay, Senior Director, Govtech
● Jeff Lin, Principal, iGlobe Partners
● Jeffrey Chua, Chairman BCG Singapore, Boston Consulting Group
● Jenni Risku, Founder, Women in Tech
● Jon Sugihara, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Next Billion Users, Google
● Jordan Dea-Mattson, Site Director, Indeed
● Karim Buggle, Head of Business Intelligence, Stashaway
● Ken Machado, Global Head of Sustainability, Charles & Keith
● Lawrence Wu, President & Executive Director, Sunseap
● Mark Lven, Advance Engineer, Kulicke & Soffa
● Ng Jing Shen, Co-Founder & CEO, Paktor
● Peter Huynh, Partner, Qualgro
● Qaynat Sharma, Partner, Big Ideas Ventures
● Quek Siu Rui, Founder & CEO, Carousell
● Sang Shin, Director, Digital Innovation, Temasek
● Shubham Banerjee, Expert Data Scientist, McKinsey
● Siddharth Sankhe, Director, Nielsen
● Teo Ser Luck, Chairman, Nufin Data
● Thet Lin Thu, CEO & Co-Founder, Traverse Technologies
● Vanessa Zhang, Assistant Vice-President, DBS Bank
● Vishesh Shrivastav, Director, Investments, Temasek
● Will Klippgen, Managing Partner, Cocoon Capital
