In partnership with Enterprise Singapore, 500 Startups has selected Batch 2 applicants for Global Launch San Francisco and Global Launch Singapore. The two separate programs help early stage startups in Singapore enter the U.S. market and growth stage companies worldwide expand into Southeast Asia.

The programs, which kicked off in early October, will be a combination of remote and in-person classes, and consist of two phases: an eight-week virtual bootcamp followed by an eight-week immersion in Singapore or San Francisco. 500 Startups will continue to monitor COVID-19 travel recommendations before finalizing the immersion phase.

500 Startups is leveraging its extensive network of world-class mentors to train a multinational group of founders. The first phase of the program refines their business model, with a focus on developing a go-to-market strategy depending on their target market. It will also coach them on how to pitch, adapt to different cultural contexts, and lead their teams while working remotely. 

To provide more personalized guidance, 500 will assemble startups into smaller groups, or pods, based on sector and traction. The goal is to deliver tangible results and market validation by the end of the program. “While the content and exercises are very pragmatic, [mentors] still approach it from first principles, which gives us a great foundation to think through our strategy and answer the ‘Why’,” says Aniruddha Ganguly, founder and CEO of Negobot, and a Batch 2 member.

With a focus on individualized go-to-market plans, having great mentors is essential. “The mentor and partner network provided by the 500 Startups Global Launch program is a huge asset,” says Nisarg Shah, founder and CEO of Affable, also in Batch 2.

Global Launch San Francisco Batch 2:

• Affable: platform used by global brands and agencies to find relevant social media micro-influencers and measure the impact of their campaigns.
• Cellivate Technologies: manufactures substrates to grow cells faster for the food and pharma industries.
• Credify: advanced digital identity and trust solutions to help enterprises lower client acquisition costs, reduce fraud and increase trust in their services through rewarding, user-controlled data sharing experiences.
• CredoLab: helps banks and lenders accept more customers and lower the cost of risk of individuals.
• Envolve.ai: provides retail analytics and insights that stores can use.
• Frea: a marketplace for home-cooked food that gives access to a variety of quality home cooks.
• MO Batteries: one-stop solution to help businesses with fleets of gas-powered motorcycles transition to more cost-effective and lower carbon-intensive electric motorcycles using vehicle leasing, battery swapping and centralized battery charging.
• Negobot: helps enterprises optimize negotiations with long tail vendors and customers by continually learning from and automating all steps in negotiations.
• Shopform: social shopping app where fashion influencers are paid to post and share shoppable content.
• SynPhNe: helps stroke patients regain independence rapidly up to 10 years post-stroke using a home-use wearable technology that synchronizes how the brain and muscle work together.
• Tramés: reduces global supply chain trade barriers by bringing together traditionally siloed vendors and customers on a single unified SaaS platform, where information and documentation can be relayed in real time.
• uHoo: monitors and manages air indoors to create healthier, safer and more comfortable homes and workplaces.
• X0PA AI: SaaS platform that maximizes objectivity, loyalty and retention by predicting the best fit candidates.

Global Launch Singapore Batch 2: 

• BizConnect: a LinkedIn of business cards and offline professional contacts.
• Botbox: omnichannel growth and communication platform that provides digital conversational tools.
• Cindicator: ‘Hybrid Intelligence’ for effective decision-making in the stock market and crypto. 
• Designhubz: enables brands and retailers to sell their products in 3D and AR on their websites and apps.
• gini: faster and cheaper way for banks to make use of their transaction data.
• Stride.AI: enhances operational productivity of financial institutions through knowledge work automation.
• Synapsica: helps diagnostic centers scale by being part of a radio-diagnosis marketplace with AI support for workflow and reporting automation.
• Vasitum: full-stack recruitment automation platform.
• Zectr: automated consumer insights and analytics platform that helps companies make better business decisions faster. 

In addition, 500 Startups has partnered with the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Singapore’s X-HUB Program* to help these 10 startups expand into Southeast Asia as part of the X-Hub Tokyo Global Launch Singapore Course powered by 500 Startups: 

• Dental Assist: a leading dental device company in Japan that mainly manufactures affordable clear aligners to make orthodontics common to all.
• GAOGAO: professional platform of “Startup Engineers” based in Southeast Asia and Japan.
• Ginkan: social restaurant discovery service with AI recommendations and cryptocurrency rewards, using big data to digitally transform marketing in the restaurant industry.
• Kiara: real-time language translation for Slack, Email, and API, already available in 100 languages.
• Lizuna: fraud prevention platform for eCommerce.
• Quantum Ops: IoT medical and healthcare startup and has sensing technology for high level, aiming to prevent diseases and patients’ pain.
• Resc Group: battery platform that helps build smart cities.
• Revcomm: offers a cloud IP phone powered by conversation intelligence platform which increases sales conversion rate while decreasing education and communication costs.
• Sense of Wonder: provides an automatic speech recognition engine tailor-made for clients.
• TRUSTDOCK: makes eKYC accessible to companies and their customers with fully customizable and user friendly ID verification and AML solutions.

*X-HUB TOKYO Program aims to support the global expansion of startups in Tokyo in order to maintain Tokyo’s competitiveness and grow as an international city. 

Interested in joining the next Global Launch Cohort? Get in touch here.

Written by Anna Heim

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