Finalists for IdeaSpace’s Best Tech Startup Ideas bared

[March 25, 2013] –  IdeaSpace Foundation, Inc., the Philippine-based business incubator backed by industry leaders announced the finalists for its national search for the country’s top tech business ideas.

The finalists are as follows: AgriCulture Technology, Armtech, CornerData, DepEd Smart Cloud, Date Cola, FindmyDok, Lost and Found, miCab, Mirand, Nambal.com, PGRS, Pinoy Travel, Prodigo, PortfolioMNL, SafeCab, Summarize and Notify, Tech4Health, TimeFree, Tudlo, and WeGen.

READ: UNCLE MVP, STARTUPS AND IDEASPACE

These twenty finalists will vie for ten slots for six months incubation and funding worth up to PhP5M (approx. USD120K) each. The ten winners will also receive mentoring, support, services and grants from IdeaSpace partners and potential market runway to scale up their business to millions of households and subscribers.

Teams from outside Metro Manila will also receive housing support to allow them to work on their startup, the only incubation program in the Philippines offering this service. The final judging is scheduled this April 5.

“The diversity of both the ideas and geographic locations prove to us that there are a great number of innovations in the Philippines. Through our national competition, we hope that we are indeed helping level the startup playing field for these very early stage technology business ideas.” said Earl Martin Valencia, IdeaSpace president.

The finalists bested almost 700 entries from all over the Philippines, a record number for a local startup competition. This will make the acceptance ratio at IdeaSpace at 1.45%, comparable to global incubation and accelerator programs.

Based on location, eight entries were from Metro Manila, six from Visayas, three from Mindanao, two from Central Luzon, and one from the Bicol region, reflecting the growing public interest in the science and technology space and the incubator’s wide reach for its technopreneurship advocacy program.

Majority of the finalists are mobile and software solutions for various industries such as energy, agriculture, transportation and healthcare. Entries at time of submission are mostly in the idea to prototype stage. IdeaSpace targets early stage funding for aspiring technopreneurs with potentially innovative or disruptive business ideas or startups with minimum viable products seeking additional boost to propel them to commercial launch level.

IdeaSpace was launched in March 2012 and after doing a national road show, it kicked off its competition in late August. Submissions closed in early January.

For every stage, there are different panels of judges, all experts and leaders from industries, the startup community, venture capital firms, academe and government.

A non-profit foundation, IdeaSpace is supported by the following companies: First Pacific, First Pacific Leadership Academy, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), MPIC hospital group, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Meralco, Smart Communications, Inc (Smart), Digitel, Sun Cellular, SPI Global, ePLDT, Indofood, Philex Mining, Maynilad, MediaQuest, and TV5.

With PhP500-million funding for 5 years, the initiative is the largest private sector commitment for technology entrepreneurship in the Philippines. Currently, IdeaSpace is incubating three start-ups supported by Smart, the country’s leading wireless services provider.

Complete list of IdeaSpace Finalists*:

 AgriCultureTechnology (Metro Manila)  – monitors growth of aquatic livestock

Armtech (Angeles City) – affordable water purification machine for households

CornerData (Metro Manila)– simplified data gathering for agriculture and disaster preparedness using electronic sensors

DateCola (General Santos ) – natural date enriched beverages

DepEd Smart Cloud (Angeles City)  – enterprise solution for public school system

FindmyDok (Davao) – a solution for searching doctors

Lost Meets Found (Cebu) – an online solution for lost and found objects

miCab (Cebu) – smartphone solution for getting a cab with or without mobile Internet

Mirand (Metro Manila) – Lower cost and high quality total joint implants for the Asian market

Nambal.com (Cebu) – online healthcare system with portable features

PGRS (Metro Manila)  – produces electricity via rumble strips on high traffic roads

PinoyTravel (Metro Manila) – provincial bus seat reservation using mobile technologies

PortfolioMNL (Metro Manila) – online marketplace for creative professionals

Prodigo (Manila) – a solution for targeted promotions and analytics

SafeCab (Cebu) – a solution that providing feedback for commuters riding cabs

Summarize and Notify (Leyte) – allows web searches, summarizes information and notifies users

Tech4Health (Metro Manila) – solution for health monitoring of chronic conditions including diabetes

TimeFree (Zamboanga)  – SMS-based automated queuing system

Tudlo  (Cebu)  – a system that teaches, guides and points during a disaster and emergency situation

WeGen (Sorsogon) – new design of wind turbine that is more efficient than current technology

*IdeaSpace can only provide limited information on the finalists at this moment for their IP protection