StartCon launches 'Pitch for US$754k' in Asia-Pacific

By Digital News Asia May 23, 2018

Will bring together over 600 startups and 400 leading investors, from 15 cities
Singapore will host a regional final event on Aug 17, 2018, at Sofitel City Centre

StartCon launches 'Pitch for US$754k' in Asia-Pacific

STARTCON, backed by Australian VC firm Right Click Capital, on May 22 announced the launch of its “Pitch for A$1 Million” (US$754,380) competition.

As the biggest pitch competition in the Asia-Pacific region, it will bring together over 600 startups and 400 leading investors, from 15 cities, across a series of one-day events in each city.

The “Pitch for US$1 Million” principal partner, Right Click Capital – part of the global Draper Venture Network, which collectively has US$1.8 billion in assets under management – will be offering the winning startup A$1 million in funding. The funds will be used to support the winner to further develop its proprietary technologies, bolster its team’s talent, as well as scale and expand its business operations globally.

Right Click Capital partner Benjamin Chong said, “We’re excited to partner with StartCon, Australia’s largest startup conference and entrepreneur community, and look forward to helping the local startup ecosystem level the playing field with its US-based counterpart. There is such great talent in the Asia-Pacific region, and we cannot wait to contribute our specialist experience to support early-stage companies and enable them to scale and expand globally.”

“As principal partner, we are committed to the success of the initiative and will give the winner the opportunity to tap into our partnership with the Draper Venture Network, opening the door for it to draw on in-depth operational and expansion experiences.”

www.StartCon.com CEO Cheryl Mack, said, “Following our long-standing success with StartCon, I’m really pleased to offer local founders the opportunity to showcase their businesses to the rest of the world. There is so much startup talent in Asia Pacific that just needs a global stage in order to show how great their companies are. We’re giving them that stage through “Pitch for A$1 Million”, as well as a financial boost with the help of Right Click Capital.

“As Right Click Capital is both founder-led and has extensive experience in investing in early- stage, high-growth tech businesses across the Asia-Pacific region, they were the obvious partner for us.”

This is the ninth year that the startup pitch competition has been running, following previous year’s success stories, which include Checkbox and Shippit. Regional winners from each city will receive flights and accommodation to StartCon 2018 where they’ll get a chance to pitch in front of 4,000 people. The winning startup will be announced in Sydney, Australia on Dec 1, 2018, during the StartCon conference.

The “Pitch for A$1 Million” regional final events will bring together startup founders, investors and other players from each local startup ecosystem, and will be held in the following cities:

Singapore – Aug 17, 2018, at Sofitel City Centre
New Zealand - TBD
Suva, Fiji - TBD
Guangzhou, China - TBD
Chennai, India - TBD
Manila, Philippines - TBD

Australia

Adelaide – Sept 7, 2018 at Pullman Adelaide
Brisbane – Oct 5, 2018 at Sofitel Brisbane Central
Darwin - TBD
Hobart - TBD
Melbourne – Oct 12, 2018 at TBC
Perth – TBD
Sydney – Nov 30, 2018 at Royal Randwick Racecourse (StartCon 2018, Day 1)
Regional NSW -TBD
Regional VIC – TBD
APAC Grand Final – Dec 1, 2018 at Royal Randwick Racecourse (StartCon 2018, Day 2)

Startups who are not able to attend one of these regional events will also have the chance to submit their pitch via video. For more details about the event, please click here.