Our Singapore programme

Our Singapore programme launched in 2016. Our first cohort, EFSG1, started in September 2016, and recently concluded in March 2017. 12 companies were built on the first cohort, and they ranged from AR/VR companies, to machine learning and artificial intelligence companies, to water treatment companies, to space laser communications networks. Nearly half of the participants are PhD students and postdocs, mostly from NUS, NTU and SUTD, people are leaving jobs at JP Morgan, Facebook and Garena, and we also have some of Singapore’s best hackers and serial founders.

Applications for the second Singapore cohort, starting 31 July 2017, are now open.

If you join our Singapore programme you’ll be based in our office at Clarke Quay. Singapore has become one of the best places in Asia to build a technology company. 

Our Venture Partners Shao Ning Huang, See Ho Ting and Teik Guan Tan are some of Southeast Asia’s top exited founders, who have built household technology companies. Shao Ning Huang co-founded JobsCentral, which was the leading careers platform in Southeast Asia before it got acquired by US based CareerBuilder. See Ho Ting developed YFind, which was acquired by Silicon Valley wifi technology company Ruckus Wireless.

Having Infocomm Investments, the venture arm of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, as our anchor investor in Singapore, we have unique government support. Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tharman officially launched EF in Singapore:

“This partnership with Entrepreneur First is a win-win. The current turbulence in financial markets doesn’t displace the longer term picture in Asia: its markets are expanding faster than the rest of the world, and its consumers will increasingly demand quality and innovative products. EF’s new presence in Singapore will help catalyse technology innovation to take advantage of these opportunities. EF will help individuals with deep technical capabilities and new ideas to translate them into commercial solutions. The possibilities are in many areas such as healthcare, the digital economy and solutions for urban sustainability."

- DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Not based in South East Asia? Join our London programme.