Finalists for 7th Start-Up@Singapore Finals Ceremony

After a tough semi-finals yesterday, the finalists for this year 7th Start-Up@Singapore is finally out. Some quick thoughts from yesterday and we shall profile the last 10 finalists here. Remember the finals ceremony is held in Swissotel Level 4, Atrium Ballroom at 2.30 pm, 3 June 2006, and if not all, there are food and drinks plus admission is free!

Yesterday, the semi-finalists for the 7th Start-Up@Singapore business plan competition have fought out a difficult battle to get into the final 10 in the coming Saturday’s finals. They took fifteen minutes to explain their business plan and another fifteen minutes to get grilled by the judges, who are made up of academics, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry leaders and business professionals. These judges have taken their time out from their busy schedule to come and help us to select the last final 10 teams.

As I agree with the chief judge, Douglas Abrams, everyone is a winner in this competition. The teams get feedback from the judges and if they have stopped there, they have not understood what entrepreneurship is about. A lot of people believe that a business plan competition is just another competition similar to a PSLE, a ‘O’ or ‘A’ levels examination. Yes, winning a competition is no big deal. There is a team from a famous university who has won all the business plan competitions from the world, but they never started as a company. Statistics has shown that there is a significant number of business plan semi-finalists (who don’t make it to the finals) usually become very successful later. A good example, is a company called Akamai, which did not made it to the finals of MIT competition, but is now an IPO company. The reason is because entrepreneurs have this mentality that if they lost a battle today, they lived to fight another day.

More details for the finals and the sponsors for the 7th Start-Up@Singapore Finals can be found here. The event is jointly organized by NUS Entrepreneurship Society, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and NUS Business School Alumni Association.

Now, the finalists for the Youth Category (in no order of preference) first:

1. Vi3

Vi3 is a Private Limited R&D startup that aspires to be a forerunner in wound healing technology. Through continuous innovation and R&D, we aim to produce organic health care products that are environmentally friendly and superior in quality. We are currently working on a plaster that can accelerate wound healing. The main qualities that our plaster process are high effectiveness in wound healing, 100% natural constituents, and cost effectiveness.

Our business model include engaging another company to help manufacture our product, which we will then wholesale. We are confident of capturing a significant percentage of the market share given that our niche satisfies the consumers’ demands.

2. Bralievers

Derived from the existing problem women facing now, that there isn’t one bra that suits all occasion, three youths from Republic Polytechnic come together to develop the Bralievers 4-in-1 bra. Quipped with multi functions, the Bralievers bra not only has detachable and changeable cup size, but also alternative ways of wearing it, padding function and inter-changeable cup colours/designs to suits ones needs and wants.

3. DySmart

DySmart has developed a patent pending machine that automates the manual dye-mixing process. Mixing of dyes to obtain the correct colour is one of the initial processes in the production chain of the textile and carpet industry. The use of DySmart would increase efficiency and accuracy in obtaining the required color of dye and provide cost efficiencies to all members of the value chain. The company would sell dyeing machines and dye cartridges.

4. zigAlive

Our company zigAliveTM has created the zigMeisterTM, an electronic integrated circuit, which equips toy manufacturers with the capability to create interactive toys and give flexible design options at a low cost. The zigMeister’s revolutionary technology enables manufacturers to enter a $300 million growing market and compete with strategic advantage. With design and utility patents in the pipelines, the zigMeisterTM also provides endless customised entertainment and companionship for the user. The zigMeisterTM redefines the way you play!

5. Hydrogene

Accounting for USD4.5 billion of sales, fish rearing is the second most popular hobby. Fish mortality. This problem is nothing new to us all and is particularly a menace to clients particularly of the fish rearing industry. Hydrogene – providing a solution to this problem and technologies for a better tomorrow.

Now, the finalists for the General Category (in no order of preference):

1. Voltedge

The world is in a crisis, an energy crisis.

Energy will reach danger level by year 2020 while our oil resources are under strain. There is an urgent need to conserve energy. Voltedge Inverter helps us to achieve that by reducing energy wastage in variable speed motors. There is a very wide spread application for inverters, however, our company is going for a niche market that are untouched by competitors. Voltedge has a “no breakdown” design that assures our competitive edge in the market. The global market for our inverters is about $20 billion (source: Forrester). With the market potential and our innovative edge, our company is fairly valued at more than $200 million.

2. tenCube

tenCube WaveSecure is the world’s most comprehensive solution to help you secure your mobile device and data.

With WaveSecure, you can remotely lock your phone and track it down even if the SIM card is replaced. It enables you to recover your lost phone, prevent expensive unauthorized calls and protect private data. Your valuable data, such as contacts, will be securely backed up on a web server such that you can access it from anywhere anytime, even if your phone was destroyed in a fire. WaveSecure will be available commercially from Q4 06.

Note: By the way, Darius Cheung, in the SG Entrepreneurs contributors team, is the CEO of tenCube. On behalf of our team, we wish him all the best.

3. Robhatah Robotic Solutions
Robots – Because Humans Deserve Better

Robhatah Private Limited is a consumer robotics manufacturing company. Founded by celebrated robotics veterans, Robhatah hopes to save Asian housewives the trouble of doing those dull and mundane domestic chores for ever. Over the past 2 years, Robhatah has developed its first consumer robot and hopes to launch it in Singapore in time for the December Holidays, 2006.

4. RNA Therapeutics

RNA Therapeutics is a next generation diagnostics and treatment company focusing on infectious diseases. Our value proposition is to combat infectious diseases which involve leveraging rapid and accurate diagnostics kits and providing our customers with a revolutionary antiviral drug therapy.

Our first niche target segment is the detection and treatment of life threatening childhood disease, the Hand-Foot-and-Mouth disease (HFMD). We are developing a diagnostics kit that allows rapid and specific detection of EV71 directly from human samples. The detection of EV71 infection can be obtained within 1 hour upon receiving the clinical samples and, therefore, allows better management of patients with suspected HFMD infections. We will then further develop a specific antiviral therapy for EV71 infections that can be quickly implemented after positive diagnosis. Subsequent to initial focus on HFMD, RNA Therapeutics will adopt its platform technology to other infectious diseases, such as Bird Flu and Dengue.

RNA Therapeutics intends to rapidly establish itself as a globally renowned player in the field of diagnostics and treatment of infectious diseases, based on strong scientific expertise, industry experience and innovation.

5. ND Arrays Technologies

ND Arrays Technologies’s flagship product, the ND-array plate aims to do nothing short of revolutionizing the costly but conventional microplate method that researchers and healthcare workers use to obtain their biomedical diagnostic data.

The disruptive and patent-pending platform technology behind ND-array’s plates was developed by a joint research effort from the Functional Proteomic Lab and Organic Chemistry Department from the National University of Singapore.

With its Manufacturing lab in Singapore and its Headquaters in the Bay area, ND-array plates is well positioned to make an impact in the pharmaceutical and biomedical diagnostic community with an attractive offer of reducing up to 96% in cost savings by adopting the ND-array system which is both more sensitive and use less reagents than conventional methods.

So, what are you waiting for? Do come down to the 7th Start-Up@Singapore Finals Ceremony.

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