How a pitching competition gave these deep-tech startups a boost

It’s a quiet weeknight and you’re browsing free-to-air channels on television, only to land on a fuzzy gray screen, complete with crackly static.

While this would make most of us grimace before quickly moving on, a Singapore-based startup saw potential. It has since turned these unused spectrums between channels into something called “super Wi-Fi.”

That startup is Whizpace, an Internet of Things (IoT) firm whose technology offers coverage of up to 100x more than that of regular Wi-Fi. Its founders were so confident of its product, they took a chance by participating in Slingshot, an annual startup pitching competition that sees industry veterans converging to find businesses worth putting their money on.

The annual event takes place during the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) and culminates in the awarding of cash and grant prizes to a grand winner and sector winners across multiple competition tracks such as agritech and biotech.

A chance at success

At the time of Whizpace’s participation in Slingshot’s 2018 edition, the startup was still in its seed stage but had already secured an initial funding of US$1.05 million in its pre-series A round led by the Singapore-based Green Meadows Accelerator – with participation from the Javelin Startup O-Victory Fund and Enterprise Singapore’s investment arm, Seeds Capital.

Photo credit: SWITCH/Slingshot

As former researchers at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (ASTAR), Whizpace founder and CEO Oh Ser Wah and co-founder and chief technology officer Pankaj Sharma had been comfortable enough to begin running small-scale tests with customers.

At Slingshot, Whizpace was shortlisted from among 1,000 applications for the Top 100 Global Startups. In the lead-up to the finals, Oh and Sharma engaged in a three-day workshop that involved mentorship and pitch-coaching sessions and deal-making opportunities.

“We had investors approaching us during the workshop, and even before the grand finals,” Oh shares. “Eventually, we were awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) N3XT Star Award at Slingshot, and [prospective customers] who previously had reservations about our product were more receptive after.”

Opening doors

While talks with prospective investors ultimately didn’t materialize, the recognition served as a stepping stone for the company. The following year, it secured an undisclosed sum from an angel investor, as well as a US$450,000 grant in a pitching competition in Suzhou, China.

“The IEEE N3XT Star Award helped us significantly,” shares Oh. “We were the only company from Singapore to be awarded that higher-level grant, so the Slingshot prize served as an endorsement of our world-leading technology.”

The company has since raised US$3 million in funding and grants and has had 17 countries employ its “super Wi-Fi” solution, including businesses in Indonesia, Thailand, and South America. Last year, Whizpace was tapped by three government agencies in Singapore to run a six-month trial of unmanned drones in the city-state’s Southern Islands.

Bridging the gaps

The road hasn’t been smooth for Whizpace, though. Its revenue streams have taken “quite a big hit” amid the Covid-19 pandemic because of its business-to-business (B2B) model, according to Oh. In addition to downsizing the team, the startup has had projects delayed or paused as businesses reassessed their expenditure.

Adds Oh, “The information and communications technology sector is doing well now, but that’s more on the B2C (business-to-consumer) side since customers need Wi-Fi for flexible work arrangements. In that respect, having a B2B model is more challenging.”

To fill these gaps, the company is tapping into various government assistance schemes and is in the midst of designing a contact-tracing solution that employs “super Wi-Fi” to better track Covid-19 cases.

New roads

Whizpace isn’t alone in finding unique solutions for businesses.

At Slingshot 2019, the Italy-based biotech company Themis Industries successfully made its pitch and won the Deal Maker award for its invention: a sustainable technology that removes industrial and organic waste – whether food waste, sewage, or sludge – from unclean water. With this solution, businesses get potable distilled water for reuse, therefore cutting costs in the long run.

“My intention was to understand waste management in Singapore,” Pierluigi Berna, marketing manager at Themis Industries, explains. “I then discovered that, like Italy, Singapore has a big problem with waste.”

Photo credit: SWITCH/Slingshot

In fact, the independently owned Gardens by the Bay had approached Themis Industries to help with its foliage waste management problem. But by that point, a pandemic was already declared, forcing Berna to return to the biotech firm’s base in Italy.

Prior to that, however, the firm was focused on developing an energy-efficient zero-emission product in order to give it an added edge at Slingshot.

While it sounds simple enough, the team had spent seven years developing its prized solution in the road leading up to the Deal Maker competition. The top prize for the category, which was introduced that same year, was awarded to the biotech firm since it garnered the most interest from judges in terms of its product’s investment and co-innovation potential.

According to Berna, Themis Industries’ participation in Slingshot was born out of serendipity.

“We had intended to participate in [the accelerator program] Imagine H20 Asia but didn’t meet all the criteria,” he says. “The program manager Kelvin Lam then suggested that we apply for Slingshot. I started reading the competition website, and realized Themis Industries might be a fit.”

Connections matter

Through his previous work in the industrial construction sectors in Singapore and Indonesia, Berna had already established a network of contacts, and so he reached out to an Enterprise Singapore representative after learning of the competition’s various tracks.

By the time Themis Industries was in Slingshot’s Top 100 Global Startups shortlist, Berna had already readied his elevator pitch. Still, there was room for growth.

“You’ll find people who are ready to teach you everything,” he says. “There was a BBC professional who trained us in public-speaking. It was a very emotional moment going onstage, but the organizers created a comfortable environment for us.”

Because of the award, Themis Industries received media attention in Legnano, Italy – the town where the biotech firm is based – and has secured work from Italian tanneries to help with their waste treatment management.

“The process of building and testing tailor-made machinery and then running testing sessions requires some months,” explains Berna. “We started testing sessions for a tannery one year ago but had to pause the production work because of the Covid-19 situation.”

Still, Berna is hopeful things will pick up for Themis Industries soon.

“We will keep building connections with companies that have a higher volume of waste and do more tests to refine our technology,” he says. “If what you’re offering is good, you’ll find opportunities and contacts expressing interest in your solution.”

Converted from Singapore dollars and Chinese Yuan. Rate: US$1 = S$1.35 = 6.62 RMB

Slingshot 2020 will take place virtually from December 7 to 9, 2020 as part of the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH), a week-long event that offers participants access to global startups, investors, corporate offices, and the innovation community.

The deep-tech startup pitching competition is organized by Enterprise Singapore, and connects startups with over 250 investors, 40 multinational corporates, and more than 200 startup mentors. It culminates in the awarding of cash and grant prizes worth more than US$670,000.

Find out more about SWITCH and tune in to Slingshot 2020 from December 7 to 9, 2020.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.