IGNITE Blazes the Trail for Startups in Asia

Organized by TechShake, dentsu X and Brainsparks, startup founders got the chance to meet with international and local investors in a gathering to share world-changing ideas.

Held last June 24 to 25 at the Makati Shangri La, IGNITE 2019 blazed the trail for business matching opportunities, conferences, and discussions on the budding industries in Asia and beyond, as well as the WILDFIRE Pitch Competition.

Also read: IGNITE 2019: Highlighting Asia’s Global Startup Leadership

Conference and Discussions of World-Class Speakers

On the first day, the halls of Makati Shangri-La were divided into three for the conference sessions of the Startup and Innovation Track, The Investment and Acceleration Track, and the Corporate Innovation Track.

Keynotes and panel discussions were also led by thought leaders and industry experts from the region with exciting personalities like Brian Cu of GRAB Philippines, Rosie Keller of Seedstars, James Gilbert of HubSpot, and James Tan of Quest Ventures.

Also read: Startup Businesses Take Part in a Bigger IGNITE 2018

Robert Van Zwieten asks the panel of Kenji Nakashini, Pailin Vichakul, Le Yu Ong, and Ryusuke Hirota on recognizing the investment potential of a startup

Business Matching Opportunities

Startups met up with investors and corporations looking for good deals, innovations, or collaborations during the Match sessions held on both days of the conference.

This year was surely a bigger field as the organizers invited participants from all over Asia. The hall was set alight with engaging one-on-one meetings, which let startups and investors to match their needs with each other.

The first day of IGNITE Match was very casual, letting both startups and investors talk about potential partnerships in the future

Wildfire Pitch Competition

During the second day, the IGNITE was lit up with ambitious startups outlying each other at the Wildfire Pitch Competition. About 30 startups went through a Wildfire Bootcamp of training and mentoring sessions to get to the final 12—who got to pitch onstage.

Of these startups, Cropital, an organization connecting local farmers with investors from all over the world, was named Grand Winner, bagging the $10,000 equity-free cash prize and a trip to the Seedstars Regional Summit, an entrepreneurship forum in Switzerland.

Also read: Business Talk with Ruel Amparo, CEO and Founder of Cropital

Other than the major events, there were also exhibitors on the floors of Makati Shangri-La, where companies that the startup industry may take an interest to are given a space to offer services and products.

Some of these are the fintech companies, co-working spaces, venture capital firms, and program developers that are already currently providing startup companies the needed boost to get ahead.

Amarit Charoenphan of Techsauce introducing the potential of establishing a startup in Thailand

With the number of startups increasing rapidly in South East Asia, there are more innovations on the search for the right access to funds, as well as getting the information outside of the continent.

IGNITE does both for startups in the Philippines and the neighboring countries by bringing the industry players together to find a match and blaze a trail for innovation.