The application will gather startups from Manila, Batangas, Laguna, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, and different provinces all over the Philippines. All pre-selected startups will be vetted by trusted members of the community and active investors.
Only 10 startups will be given the chance to pitch their ideas on stage in front of a large crowd and distinguished local and international investors. The winner will win an equity free cash prize and possibility of investment.
- The startup should have a working MVP (Minimum Viable Product) during the competition.
- There should be at least 1 full time founder
- The founder should be Filipino or at least 1 co-founder is Filipino. If founder is not Filipino at least the core team is mostly Filipino.
- The external funding received should not be more than 500K USD
Arnaud Bonzom
Arnaud is the Director of Corporate Innovation at 500 Startups. His recent report on How do the World’s Biggest Companies Deal with the Startup Revolution? details the bullish efforts by Multinational Corporations to engage startups and leverage on their capabilities.
Prior to 500 Startups, Arnaud was part of INSEAD, where he was responsible for facilitating interactions between MBA students/alumni and the Entrepreneurship ecosystem. Arnaud is also working on his spare time to develop some tools for the startup ecosystem: Asia Funding / M&A Newsletter and Singapore Startup Ecosystem & Entrepreneur Toolbox.
Yasuhiro Seo
Yasuhiro Seo majored in journalism at San Francisco State University, working as a video journalist in California after graduation before joining IMJ in 2007. At IMJ he worked for top Japanese manufacturers on projects including branding, creative direction, and UX design. At IMJ Investment Partners he works on deal sourcing and provides strategic support to portfolio companies with a focus on the Southeast Asia region.
Naohiko Hatae
Nao joined CyberAgent as a new graduate in 2006. His carrer started in Internet advertising agency. He was soon promoted and was in charge of Marketing Division and SEM Division. In 2011 he started a new C2C business from scratch. He was also in charge of the Ameba Community Division. The C2C business became an subsidary and became a Director. He joined CyberAgent Ventures in 2014. NAO is a graduate of Keio University, department of law.
Alex Alabiso
Alex is in-charge of driving market performance and strengthening business and tech architecture of Kickstart-funded startups.He has deep experience in tech: 18 years in Web Development, IT and Infrastructure; 10 years management experience in technology; and an expert in enterprise application architecture, development and tech processes. But he’s not just a geek! Alex is an old-hat in bridging the gap between geeks and suits as well as applying tech to real-world business problems. He’s no stranger to developing policies and procedure to streamline existing practices from across multiple industries: banking and finance, medical technology, digital print and publishing, social networking/media, and energy/power generation. Alex is passionate about helping startups and is an active member of PHP User Group Philippines (PHPUG-PH), R Users Group Philippines, and AWS User Group Philippines.
Kazuo Koike
Kazuo has been in Dentsu for 14 years with his dimensionalized capability across the communication field. Over the years, he has worked for lots of global brands which was originated in Japan such as Kao, SONY, Canon, Asahi, Unicharm, helping those brands to drive their business locally and globally by traditional and non-traditional agency services.He is now Executive Director of “dentsu X Philippines”, an integrated agency network combining best-in- class communication and media services, content creation, technology, data and behavioral insights. (Formerly, Dentsu media)
Kazuo plans to make his company unique by having a platform that will differentiate themselves from other networks and agencies. One of the unit is dXLab, an innovation unit to accelerate the development of Philippine and regional start-ups and harness new global technology to build new experiences connecting people and brands.
Retno Dewati
Retno Dewati is SEA Regional Manager at Fenox Venture Capital, a global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley with $1.5 Billion AUM and 90+ investments across the world. She is responsible to lead deal sourcing and investment activities as well as business development for Fenox SEA office. Retno has deeper insight in startups industry and strong analysis in investment decision. She has reviewed more than 500 startups over a year and manage 25+ portfolio companies in SEA. Retno is also the founding member of GnB Accelerator - a joint venture accelerator program between Fenox VC and Infocom Corporation Japan. At GnB Accelerator, Retno is responsible in selecting startups, manage the investment and being in-house mentor.
Kentaro Hashimoto
2001-2002: Founded Media Roll Inc. Co-Founder and CEO
2002: Graduated from grad school of the University of Tokyo, Master of Computer Science
2002-2004: Fuji Xerox Information Systems Co. Ltd.
2004-2008: Founded Makpye Inc. Co-Founder and COO
2008-2011: Founded Conit Co. Ltd. Co-Founder and CEO
2012-2015: Contents-One Inc. CTO
2015-Present: Infocom Corporation.
2017-Present: Founded PT. GnB Accelerator Co-Founder and CEO
GnB Accelerator is a collaborative program between Japanese IT company Infocom Corporation and Fenox Venture Capital from Silicon Valley. It is a global network dedicated to progress and innovation that brings together the people, the funding, and the partners that drive business velocity.
