Incubators and Accelerators in Singapore for Startups
Albeit being a small city, Singapore has one of the most accelerators and incubators for start-ups. Located strategically on the peninsula, it gives founders easy access to regional cities such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and more. Aside from the location, Singapore also has many funding opportunities and is home to some of the world’s best talents, making it a startup hotspot for entrepreneurs.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, we have consolidated a list of incubators and accelerators in Singapore below to help kickstart your start-up journey. Depending on the nature of your business, choose a programme that gives you and your startup:
- Access to the relevant mentors
- Access to VCs that has invested in the same industry
- Reasonable terms for your participation
For a summary of incubators and accelerators that we know of, scroll to the bottom of this article.
List of start-up incubators in Singapore:
One-North Startup Launchpad
Incubates: Tech start-ups
Accreditation: Startup SG Founder Accredited Mentor Partner
BLOCK71 is an initiative by NUS Enterprise that aims to help start-ups form collaborative and strategic partnerships with established corporates and government agencies. It is a technology-focused ecosystem builder and global connector which catalyses and aggregates the start-up community. In Singapore, we spearhead new initiatives and provide mentorship and growth opportunities in key local, regional and global markets.
Apply for incubation at BLOCK71: http://bit.ly/BLOCK71_incubator
Incubates: F&B startups
At Timbre+, two units (an Airstream travel trailer and a hawker stall) have been set aside for first time food entrepreneurs to test out their culinary business idea. It is part of Timbre+ ‘s social mission to develop Singapore culinary talents. Therefore, rental fees and service charge for these units are at nominal rates.
Apply for incubation at Timbre+: info@timbregroup.asia
Incubates: Local and international start-ups, including start-ups from Finland, Norway and Czeh Republic.
Expara develops and teaches entrepreneurship, innovation and venture finance through an experiential training programme. It posts innovation challenges for entrepreneurs, corporations and public institutions in Southeast Asia. Some of their approaches include:
- Investing in a manageable number of companies
- Investing at favorable valuations while aligning our interest with the startups
- Investing in early stage companies as well as playing an active role in helping the company to grow by providing pre-revenue and pre-financing incubation
Apply for incubation Expara Co-Working Space: dka@expara.com
4. NTUitive Collaborative Space
Incubates: NTU affiliated start-ups
With over 5,000 sq feet of incubation space, NTUitive adopts an open-concept to facilitate bonding and creative synergies amongst the start-ups. For solo founders, one can attain their own designated multi-functional cubicle, with access to the internet, business services, meeting rooms and a fully stocked pantry.
Apply for incubation at NTUitive Collaborative Space: ChinKiatPein@ntuitive.sg
Incubates: Innovative Singapore start-ups
Get2Volume has incubation managers and venture partners in Silicon Valley and Singapore. They provide mentorship, operational, and execution capabilities to enable success for their portfolio companies.
Apply for incubation at Get2Volume Incubator: mholt@get2volume.com
6. Pollinate Incubator
Incubates: Current and Alumnis of Polytechnics
Accreditation: Startup SG Founder Accredited Mentor Partner
Pollinate is a joint initiative across three polytechnics — Ngee Ann Poly, Singapore Poly & Temasek Poly that aims to support the entrepreneurship efforts of current polytechnic students and alumni entrepreneurs. As a home to diverse industries, all in one space, startups can look forward to a community of like-minded individuals as well as a nurturing ecosystem to grow their startups.
Apply for incubation at Pollinate Incubator: http://www.pollinate.space/join.html
Other Areas in Singapore
- The HANGAR by NUS Enterprise
Incubates: NUS students, researchers, staff and alumni
The HANGAR by NUS Enterprise extends the NUS Start-Up Runway theme as a base to house NUS start-ups and entrepreneurs as they nurture their tech business ideas. It is a thriving hub where diverse individuals come together, united by their passion for entrepreneurship, to brew and explore possible, and even improbable ideas.
Apply for incubation at The Hangar: https://nusenterprise.org/query/apply
2. NUS Enterprise @ Singapore Science Park
Incubates: Startups that commercialise deep technology
NUS Enterprise @ Singapore Science Park is a partnership between NUS Enterprise and Ascendas-Singbridge to spearhead Singapore’s first Deep Technology Hub. By fostering a community of deep technology start-ups, corporate partners and accelerators, and university researchers and academics, it aims to enable innovation in the nascent deep technology space. Some of the current incubatees include SpaceAge Labs, Roceso Technologies, and Prospace.
Incubates: Fintech Startups
For startups to succeed, they need a community in which they can thrive. Located within PayPal’s Singapore Technology Center, PayPal Incubator endeavors to nurture and support the creation of a new generation of technology companies. It provides an initial infrastructure, structured curriculum with access to FinTech domain experts, mentoring and guidance by business leaders, and access to a network of investors.
Apply for incubation at PayPal Innovation Lab: https://www.f6s.com/paypalincubator2019/apply
Incubates: SMU students, alumni and staff, SMU’s affiliates under the SMU Affiliate Programme, students from polytechnics and other third parties including recipients from the I.JAM and the POC and Technology Incubation Scheme of the Academic Entrepreneurship programme
SMU Business Innovations Generator (BIG) is a world-class university incubator where people passionate about entrepreneurship come together and grow startups from ground zero. Working out of BIG’s central co-working space, founders have immediate access to corporates and industry titans who could be their first clients, mentors or investors.
To find out more, click here.
List of start-up accelerators in Singapore:
- Focus: Passionate entrepreneurs with inner drive, spike and grit
- Programme Duration: 6 months
- Investment/ Equity Stake: S$5k per month per founder for 2 months
Antler selects the most passionate aspiring entrepreneurs to help them find the right co-founders and connect them to a network of fitting business and academic domain experts worldwide. Antler provides funding from day one to support these founders, who are building businesses that can positively impact local, national and global economies.
Antler’s founding team and network of mentors have an extensive experience with start-ups, with many finding success many times over. These individuals are now dedicated to supporting some of the world’s best talent in becoming great founders of great companies.
Apply now: antler.co/apply
2. Entrepreneur First Singapore
- Focus: Deep tech companies
- Programme Duration: 6 months
- Investment/ Equity Stake: S$5k per month per founder for 3 months (S$15k total per founder), S$75,000 if your company is offered a place on Entrepreneur First Launch
Entrepreneur First (EF) is not a traditional ‘accelerator’. It aids passionate computer scientists and engineers to build deep-technology companies from scratch. One does not need a team or an idea to apply for their accelerator programme. Over a duration of 3 months, EF helps founders to find a co-founder, develop their ideas, get customers, and raise funding from top investors.
Apply now: https://boards.greenhouse.io/apply/jobs/1613190
3. GROW Accelerator
- Focus: Agtech and Food tech companies
- Programme Duration: 6 Months (12 weeks intensive programme+ 3 months Mentorship)
- Investment/ Equity Stake: Up to USD$120, 000
- Next application call: Feb 2020
Launched by AgFunder, the online venture capital investor and Rocket Seeder, an Australian agrifood accelerator, GROW is Singapore’s first global agtech and food tech accelerator. Located at the iconic BLOCK 71, GROW supports both early-stage startups and later stage scale-ups working in all areas of agtech and foodtech and covering the whole value chain.
Startups will spend 6 months developing their business growth plan with the help of mentors, coaches and get exclusive access to GROW’s international network.
To learn more, contact Vandana Dhaul at vandana@gogrow.co.
4. HyperX Hackathon-to-Accelerator Programme
- Focus: Changemakers or Startups innovating for Sustainable Development Goals (SGD)
- Programme Duration: 12 months
The HyperX hackathon-to-accelerator programme, the first of its kind centered on innovating for a better and more sustainable future, is co-developed with Singapore-headquartered investment company Temasek and StartupX.
Spanning across 12 months, the programme brings together innovators and entrepreneurs from across the globe to drive sustainable solutions from ideation to realisation.
HyperHack is the first stage of the HyperX programme where global participants come together to ideate, hack, design and build products and services that can put the world on a path to sustainability. It is followed by HyperSpark, a 10 weeks pre-accelerator programme to develop teams emerging from HyperHack with the strongest ideas into full-fledged startups. The final leg of the HyperX programme, HyperScale, is a high-growth 3 months programme which will help early-stage startups with a minimum viable product scale their sustainable innovations globally.
For more information: www.hyperx.global or write in to hyperx@thestartupx.com
- Focus: Cybersecurity Startups
- Programme Duration: 10 Weeks
ICE71 ‘Innovation Cybersecurity Ecosystem at Block71’ is the region’s first cybersecurity entrepreneurial hub. Founded by Singtel Innov8, the corporate venture capital unit of Singtel, and the National University of Singapore (NUS), through its entrepreneurial arm NUS Enterprise, we aim to strengthen Singapore’s growing cybersecurity ecosystem by attracting and developing competencies and deep technologies to help mitigate the rapidly increasing cybersecurity risks in the region.
Supported by the CSA and the IMDA, we are Singapore’s first integrated cybersecurity entrepreneur hub, supporting and developing early and growth stage cybersecurity entrepreneurs and startups from around the world.
ICE71 runs a range of programmes designed to support cybersecurity individuals and startups, ranging from idea development to the creation, acceleration and scaling of cybersecurity startups. Additionally, the ICE71 community will provide startups with go-to-market access, introductions to corporates and channel partners.
Apply now: https://ice71.sg/accelerate/#
6. ImpacTech Startup Programme
- Focus: Impact-driven Technology companies and startups
- Programme Duration: 3- 4 months
ImpacTech’s private acceleration programme starts by scouting for relevant startups and then defining each team’s goals and milestones. Selected startups will have access to workshops that not only help to build the foundation of their enterprise, but also inspire unique ideas as well as push the limits of their imagination. These sessions are designed to prepare them for Demo Day. The startups will also enjoy mentoring sessions with mentors which will be closely assigned to them according to their progress, needs and technical domain.
Apply now: https://impactech.com/startup-sign-up/
7. PIER71 Accelerate Programme
- Focus: Maritime Start-ups
- Programme Duration: 8 Weeks
PIER71 Accelerate is a 5 to 8 weeks mentor-led programme which starts in September this year. We provide access to a large network of industry mentors, domain experts, investors, and corporate partners. Each team will be paired with an experienced mentor in building, nurturing and supporting start-ups.
Teams will be exposed to weekly masterclasses adapted from the lean start-up methodology, networking events, domain-knowledge sharing sessions, pitching classes and more. The programme also includes sponsored incubation space at PIER71.
8. Eastern Pacific Accelerator
- Focus: MaritimeTech Start-ups
- Programme Duration: 3 months
Eastern Pacific Accelerator Powered by Techstars which is a 3 months program. It is the world’s first global MaritimeTech accelerator. Techstars and EPS have established a partnership to drive innovation in the maritime industry to cultivate and mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs . The accelerator is focused on technologies related to regulations, fuel efficiency, vessel operations, digitalization, and navigation.
Apply here.
9. TNB Accelerator by TNB Ventures
TNB Ventures is a Singapore Government supported Accelerator and fund, led by an entrepreneurial team which has founded, operated and successfully exited their own startups. TNB invests in early-stage startups focusing on Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented and Virtual Reality, Machine Learning, and Robotics.
To apply, submit your pitch decks to: applications@tnb.vc or apply directly via F6s page
Summary of List of Incubators in SG
- BLOCK71 Singapore
- Timbre +
- Expara Co-working Space
- NTUitive Collaborative Space
- Get2Volume Incubator
- Pollinate Incubator
- LongHash Hatch — Global Blockchain Incubator
- Hangar by NUS Enterprise
- SMU IIE Startup Incubator
- NUS Enterprise @ The Science Park
- PayPal Innovation Lab
- JCS Venture Lab
- Innovate360 — Food Incubator
- Online Incubator — MEET Ventures
- Innovation House Finland
Summary of List of Accelerators in SG
- Accelerating Asia
- Antler Singapore
- A*StartCentral (ASC) by A*ccelerate
- Entrepreneur First (EF)
- Eastern Pacific by Techstars
- Found8 Elevate SG Found programme
- FinLab — fintech accelerator by UOB TRIBE Accelerator
- GROW Accelerator
- HyperX hackathon-to-accelerator programme
- ICE71 Cybersecurity Accelerator
- *Scape Accelerator for youths
- Tribe Accelerator
- PIER71 Maritime Accelerator
- German Accelerator
If you know of any accelerator and incubator in Singapore that we have missed out, do let us know!
