If you’re a startup building for smarter cities, this Singapore VC wants to hear from you

Photo credit: ldprod / 123RF.

Singapore-based venture capital firm and incubator TNB Ventures is diving into deep technologies with a new accelerator program called Sensing Cities, it announced today.

TNB aims to connect and support startups that work in augmented and virtual reality, internet of things, robotics, big data, and artificial intelligence. The call goes out to startups all over the world, but the VC is focused on building a regional beachhead for promising businesses.

‘Sensing Cities’ means solutions for urban users who live in a connected community.

The VC currently invests in seed-stage IoT and advanced manufacturing startups as a co-investment partner of enterprise builder SPRING Singapore, matching dollar for dollar for a maximum joint investment of US$2.8 million in each startup.

For Sensing Cities, TNB will invest from the TNB Aura Fund 1, operated by TNB and Australian investment bank Aura. The fund will invest up to US$2.1 million in each startup, in seed or series A stage.

Interested startups can apply here. Applications are open until the end of the year, December 31, 2016.

Sensible living

“Sensing Cities” means solutions for urban users who live in a connected community – not so much the infrastructure and framework powering it, but rather the products and services it enables.

For the program’s purposes, TNB has partnered with organizations like Plug & Play, Ngee Ann and Temasek Polytechnics, and ETPL (the commercialization arm of A*STAR, Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology, and Research).

Together with partnering firms like VR/AR software developer Eon Reality, Singaporean travel agency Chan Brothers (with whom TNB has worked before incubating travel-related tech startups), and cleantech investor Lignar Labs, the accelerator will bring value to participating startups in the form of co-investment, mentorship, networks, and facilities.

“We aim to build an ecosystem for startups to help them realize their ambition to impact billions,” says TNB founder and managing partner Michael Yap.

Converted from Singapore dollars. US$1 = S$1.39