Singapore’s Nextbillion takes home $187k after winning Slingshot 2020

Singapore-based AI startup Nextbillion.ai was announced as the top winner of this year’s Slingshot deep-tech competition.

Slingshot 2020 grand winner Nextbillion.ai / Photo credit: Slingshot

Organized by Enterprise Singapore, Slingshot is Startup SG’s marquee startup competition that is held annually in the city-state. Given the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s program was done fully online, culminating in a virtual finals held during the Singapore Fintech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH).

For the fourth edition of the international startup competition, Slingshot crowned the top 10 startups that were chosen among over 7,500 applicants from more than 150 countries. There were two startups featured in each of the competition’s five sectors.

For taking part in Slingshot, the top startups were given over S$900,000 (US$673,000) in grants and cash prizes, and more than S$7.5 million (US$5.6 million) worth of startup resources and support.

Taking home S$200,000 (US$150,000) of the grant money is Nextbillion, which provides transport businesses with an AI-backed solution for optimized routes and complete environment mapping. Additionally, the startup will also receive a cash prize of S$50,000 (US$37,394) and six months of serviced office space.

The other nine winners that took home a S$50,000 (US$37,394) Startup SG grant each are:

• US-based Elidah (healthtech, biotech, and medtech), the manufacturer of Elitone, which tones weakened pelvic floor muscles and is FDA-cleared to treat stress urinary incontinence.
• UK-based Gyrogear (healthtech, biotech, and medtech), a medical device company that uses satellite-grade gyroscopes in wearables to restore independence and quality of life for patients with hand tremors. Gyrogear is the first runner-up of this year’s competition.
• Israel-based EggXYt (foodtech and agri-tech), which aims to enable a sustainable future through technology, such as through its flagship product that allows for non-invasive pre-incubation sex detection in chicken eggs.
• Australia-based ProAgni (foodtech and agri-tech), a company that is committed to developing products that decrease the environmental footprint of food production.
• Canada-based Scope Photonics (manufacturing, logistics, and transportation), which is building electronically tuneable camera lenses that are capable of lossless zoom without physical movement.
• Singapore-based Knowledge Navigator (urban solutions, sustainability, and energy), the operator of Lauretta.io, a platform that uses existing cameras of property owners to capture occupant activities, behavior, and intent using AI.
• Singapore-based TransferFi (urban solutions, sustainability, and energy), which aims to create a long-range, safe, and efficient Wireless Power Network (WPN) that can be used to power manufacturing automation sensors.
• Singapore-based Crayon Data (digital solutions, consumer products, and services), which enables industries such as banking, ecommerce, and hospitality to have personalized conversations with each of their customers across various communication channels.
• UK-based Keyless Technologies (digital solutions, consumer products, and services), a deep-tech cybersecurity company aiming to build the world’s first privacy-preserving biometric authentication and personal identity management platform. Keyless is the second runner-up of the competition.

The 10 were chosen from a group of 100 startups that had geared up for the finals through a week-long program where they received advisory support such as virtual pitch coaching and mentorship.

In addition to the main industries, Slingshot introduced new categories this year.

Winning the program’s Covid-19 Challenge is Surfly, a digital solutions startup from Netherlands that helps people connect and collaborate online. Ophthalmic hardware and AI software startup TeleMedC won the newly introduced Most Investible Startup award, walking away with a S$10,000 (US$7,479) prize.

Meanwhile, Octopus Waste Management, a circular economy platform that manages waste collection, won Slingshot’s Audience Choice award.