GEORGE TOWN, October 31 – Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC), in collaboration with Vincaps Capital and Big Domain, have organised the Penang Start-up Accelerator Program that was launched on the 18th of February 2022 and today’s Demo Day was the peak of the Penang Start-up Accelerator Program to showcase the business ideas of our young start-ups. The demo day was attended by Penang State EXCO for Youth and Sports, YB Soon Lip Chee, and General Manager of the Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) to witness the successful participating start-ups pitched their innovative business ideas.
“This effort is crucial because start-ups can be very fragile and will need guidance and support to ensure they are able to calculate their upcoming moves and steps wisely and be able to strive for a better economy”, according to YB Soon Lip Chee in his speech. It is remarkable to see our youth start-up participants to join and learn with us within these past months and they have grown significantly indeed. With them being equipped with the knowledge and the skills, I am sure they can build their capacity and contribute to the current start-up ecosystem”, added Dr. Gwee Sai Ling.
“Startups require a lot of support, especially in the area of mentorship, market access, funding, technical and legal”, says Henry Tye. Who knows, with the right connections and funding, the next unicorn startup might even come from Penang!”, added Kevin Yam. The Demo Day is the pinnacle of the Penang Start-up Accelerator Program as the top three groups from the 6-month programme pitched their business ideas in front of potential investors. The three groups are Skybi Technologies, Dear Kyra and ResQ.
Skybi is a digital mental health startup operating across SEA that provides accessible and affordable mental health services for the community. Dear Kyra is a digital health platform that offers non-judgmental space for women to obtain birth control and medical advice through tele-consultation in a way that is convenient, discreet & safe. ResQ is a digital roadside assistance platform where users can instantly book breakdown service providers.
With many successful start-up companies originating from Penang now in action, the Penang State Government, through the Penang State EXCO for Youth and Sports and PYDC, launched the Penang Start-up Accelerator Program together with our industrial partners to help more start-ups to succeed. This program has been designed as a catalyst programme to build the capacity of participating start-ups through knowledge-sharing sessions with partnering parties including investors, professional start-up entrepreneurs, local enterprises and community-residents to build a long-term sustainable ecosystem for business.
The programme commenced for 6 months and was run through virtual meetings. During the incubator period of 5 months, the professional mentors contributed by grooming and scaling the business size of the participating start-ups. By the end of this incubator period, the showdown session and grilling session took place with the three best groups emerged for the Demo Day.
