Entrepreneur First unveils 19 deep-tech startups in sixth cohort

London-based Entrepreneur First (EF) has unveiled its latest cohort of 19 deep-tech companies from Singapore, Bangalore, and Hong Kong.

Entrepreneur First co-founders, Alice Bentinck (left) and Matt Clifford / Photo credit: Entrepreneur First

“While Asia has made leaps and bounds in the adoption of digital technologies, deep tech is still largely at a nascent stage and we’ve barely scratched the surface,” said Matt Clifford, co-founder and CEO of EF. “Our latest Asia cohort represents the vast potential, diversity, and innovative spirit in the region’s deep-tech ecosystem.”

EF told Tech in Asia that it invests S$75,000(US$53,566) into each of the teams that reach the Launch phase. The investment, together with about US$3,500 in monthly stipends for each founder over the course of the program, is provided in exchange for a 10% stake in each company.

In early 2019, the company raised US$115 million in the first close of its new global fund to invest in more than 2,200 individuals across the globe over the next three years.

Since its entry into Asia in 2016, EF said it has helped over 600 co-founders build more than 120 companies across the region.

Here are the 13 companies that form EF’s Asia 6 cohort:

Hong Kong

• Open empowers banks in developing Asia to quadruple their small and medium-sized enterprises lending business volume and reduce loan approval times from a month to one day.
• PixCap is reducing the barriers to 3D animation and content creation with an image-only motion capture technology that can serve as an alternative to motion capture suits.
• RC Labs designs and manufactures adaptive, chemistry-agnostic IoT battery management systems and analytics dashboards to track and manage battery performance for electric vehicle and energy storage systems.
• Spidfier is a biotech company that leverages DNA sequencing technology to combat fish fraud through identification, origin detection, and other metrics.

Singapore

• Energy Lite is building the first virtual power plant for distributed solar photovoltaic systems to guarantee energy output to the power utility.
• Fairphonics leverages AI to ensure music platforms pay the right amount to the right creators and artists.
• Lytehouse builds software that acts as a command center for security control rooms by pulling their sensors and response coordination into a single platform, allowing processes, from detection to dispatch, to occur seamlessly and with just a few clicks.
• Milkyway provides physical retailers with ecommerce visibility and insights by delivering real-time in-store data and shopper analytics through the use of computer vision technology.
• Navarasa enables fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers to optimize their product trial losses and hasten their speed to market while helping them save on costs.
• Plutwo is a video-sharing platform that allows domain experts to conduct lessons in their areas of expertise and in their local language via paid livestreamed lessons.
• Poseidon AI builds hardware to monitor water composition and leverages algorithm parameters to optimize feed consumption and aquaculture yield for fish farmers.
• Quantship has developed price prediction technology for freight and charter rates for bulk shipping companies.
• TeOra rapidly programs smart microbes to replace synthetic products with natural and sustainable ones using a combination of microfluidics and AI.

The remaining six companies from Entrepreneur First Bangalore will be unveiled at a separate Investor Day in Bangalore.

EF said that applications to the next cohort for all Asia locations in Bangalore and Singapore are ongoing and will close on May 31, 2020. The next cycle of the program will start in July 2020.

Currency converted from Singapore dollar to US dollar: US$1 = S$1.40.