Myanmar’s first startup accelerator is open for business

An event at Phandeeyar. It’s in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), a city of just over 5 million people. Image credit: Phandeeyar.

One of the biggest connectivity revolutions in the world has quietly unfolded in Myanmar over last few years. In 2009, internet penetration was less than one percent – now more than half the population is online, with more signing on for the first time every day.

Myanmar is a potential goldmine for startups. Think tens of millions of new internet users, all on mobile, realizing simultaneously that they can use technology to fix anything from traffic congestion to money transfers.

“There’s something really exciting and unprecedented happening here,” David Madden tells Tech in Asia. Back in 2014, David and his colleagues launched Myanmar’s first-ever hackathons out of an office in downtown Yangon. By 2015, the hacking competitions had grown into tech workshops, entrepreneur meetups, design seminars, and much more – with some programs backed by the likes of Google, Samsung, and HP.

There’s something really exciting and unprecedented happening here.

Known as the Phandeeyar Myanmar Innovation Lab, the space became a hub for Myanmar’s tech community. Last year, Phandeeyar held its first startup competition, where David expected “about 50 people” to show up – and instead got 62 teams, with more than 200 entrepreneurs in total.

The demand is clearly there but, aside from a few short-term programs, Myanmar’s entrepreneurs have never had access to a domestic startup accelerator – until the people behind the Phandeeyar Myanmar Innovation Lab began assembling one earlier this year.

Ready for liftoff

Launched today, the Phandeeyar Accelerator is a six-month program based in downtown Yangon and targeted at early-stage startups in the country.

Startups accepted into the program will receive US$25,000 in seed investment from Phandeeyar, as well as US$200,000 in services from the likes of Facebook’s FBStart, Microsoft’s BizSpark cloud services, Amazon AWS, Ogilvy PR, Telenor Myanmar, and others.

The Phandeeyar Accelerator team. Image credit: Phandeeyar.

Phandeeyar Accelerator also boasts a network of mentors and investors from the region, and startups will present to investors on a demo day near the end of each cohort. Four to eight teams will be accepted at a time, and Phandeeyar will ask for 12 percent equity in exchange for joining the program.

“We have a keen understanding of how talented people are here and how much potential the market has, as well as the challenges that were hindering fully realizing the potential of this space.” says David, who is CEO of the accelerator.

There isn’t a network of cashed-out tech entrepreneurs in Myanmar.

Are you ready?