500 Startups, Enterprise Singapore to launch accelerator in the city-state

Global VC firm 500 Startups has partnered with enterprise development agency Enterprise Singapore to launch an initiative to help emerging entrepreneurs in the city-state.

Photo credit: 500 Startups

Called 500 Ignition Singapore, the 12-week virtual program aims to help local founders build a stronger foundation in entrepreneurship and develop new products and services.

It will connect them to industry experts for mentorship, help them find co-founders, and provide them with shared resources to facilitate their growth. In addition, the 500 Ignition Singapore program will provide opportunities for founders to practice what they learned.

500 Ignition Singapore is set to run in three phases, with the first dedicated to customer discovery and problem definition.

Phase 2 will involve 500 Startups taking participants through different experimentation tools to develop a minimum viable product, while Phase 3 will see teams shift from solution discovery to other components such as marketing and monetization strategies.

The accelerator’s inaugural cohort is scheduled to launch today, May 3, and end on July 23. Applications for its second cohort are open from today until May 21. It will commence on June 7 and end on August 27.

In addition to Singapore, 500 Startups is currently running another Ignition program in Cambodia and intends to run similar programs across ecosystems with emerging startup talent.