Search for tech start-ups gets strong private support

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s best aspiring start-ups recently gathered at the ON3 Business Plan Competition at MINT College in Taguig City as the Science and Technology Advisory Council, Silicon Valley (STAC-SV) finished off the last leg of the regional ON3 competitions with strong support from the private sector.

Smart Communications Inc. and IdeaSpace Foundation Inc. were among the major supporters of the event along with Novare Technologies.

Saeed Amidi, founder and CEO of Plug and Play Tech Center, served as ON3’s VIP guest. During a fireside chat with Taguig Rep. Sigfrido Tinga, Amidi shared his thoughts on the start-up community with the audience. 

Amidi’s presence was augmented by venture capitalists and angel investors from Silicon Valley, industry experts and government officials who were on hand to judge as founders of various companies pitched their business ideas.  

The finalists for the ON3 2012 competition from the NCR/Luzon leg were Payroll Hero, X2Wave, Xamun, Braille G-4, Technominds, and Guestlist.ph.

The companies were judged on specific criteria and those that received the highest scores are now qualified to participate in the finals to be held in July.

The finalists are now eligible to compete for the grand prize of a three-month Silicon Valley immersion package sponsored by the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, California.

ON3 2012 is a nationwide search and business plan search for emerging tech companies in the Philippines. The prototype ON3 competition was launched at the 2010 eServices Philippines serving as the first competition of its kind in the Philippines.

Jojo Flores, co-founder and VP for operations at Plug and Play Tech Center and vice president of STAC-SV, led the event and currently serves as the ON3 director.

Smart is supporting the technology start-up community through partnerships with groups like STAC SV. It is also part of the group which formed IdeaSpace Foundation Inc. (ideaspace.ph), a non-profit organization formed by the largest and most diverse pool of companies in the Philippines, including First Pacific, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the MPIC hospital group, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Meralco, Digitel, Sun Cellular, SPI Global, ePLDT, Indofood, Philex Mining, Maynilad, MediaQuest, and TV5.

Through its P500-million, five-year program, IdeaSpace aims to help budding technology entrepreneurs develop groundbreaking solutions and transform these into successful commercial products.