JFDI's 2nd program for 2013 is scheduled to start on 29 August and the first confirmed participating team is Vault Dragon, from Singapore. They will be joined by 10-12 other teams, drawn from over 1,400 individuals who registered interest. In exchange for a minority equity stake, every team will receive a package including $11,700 cash, mentoring valued at $117,000, technical and other vendor perks worth $234,000 and working space for the duration of the program.
Hugh Mason, co-founder and CEO at JFDI.Asia, said: “The quantity and quality of teams applying grows every time. The range of business ideas and the level of expertise we see on our doorstep here in Asia is truly impressive and our metrics show that the startups we accelerate do as well as any of their peers in Europe or the US outside Silicon Valley.”
By the end of 2013, JFDI.Asia will have accelerated around 30 startups, of which more than 60% typically secure follow-on funding averaging S$600,000. To date JFDI.Asia startups have closed funding offers over $4M, a hit rate equaled by no other early-stage business support program in Asia.
The program attracted applications from (in descending order) India (28%), Singapore (23%), Philippines (7%), Indonesia (6%), Taiwan (4%), Vietnam (4%), UK (3%), Malaysia (3%), Thailand (3%), US (3%), Australia (2%), Japan (1%) and Hong Kong (1%). Other nations made up less than 1% of applications each.
We wish all the teams a successful 100 days from idea to investment and look forward to covering their stories of success into the future.
More about Vault Dragon: Vault Dragon is Dropbox for your physical stuff. It brings storage space to you, and you pay only for the actual space you use and for the duration you use it. Vault Dragon was founded by Tseng Ching Tse, an ex-PWC business consultant, and Vishesh Mittal, who has 10 years of web and 5 years of app development.