PLDT unit allots up to P50 million to fund tech-based start ups

MANILA, Philippines – IdeaSpace Foundation Inc., a non-profit foundation supported by dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), has allocated between P20 million and P50 million to fund the start-up costs of 10 tech-based companies.

IdeaSpace president Earl Martin Valencia said about 10 tech-based ideas winning the company’s national competition for technology entrepreneurship would receive funding and support worth P2 million for the first phase and up to P5 million additional capital during or after six months into the program.

Valencia said aspiring technopreneurs and startups could submit their applications for the national competition in search of the country’s top ideas for technology entrepreneurship between Sept. 1 this year and up to Jan. 7, 2013.

He said winners would undergo incubation period for six months from the scheduled announcement in April next year.

“We’re excited to see what kind of game changing ideas we will get from this competition. We have been going the rounds all over the country through our bootcamps and there are so many promising tech ideas and entrepreneurs around. It’s time to help make these ideas into commercial realities,” he stressed.

IdeaSpace runs an incubator and accelerator program to support technology entrepreneurs in the Philippines and for the global market through partnerships between the MVP group of companies and global technology companies.

The non-profit foundation is supported by PLDT, First Pacific, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., MPIC hospital group, Manila Electric Co., Smart Communications Inc., Digital Telecommunications, Sun Cellular, SPI Global, ePLDT, Indofood, Philex Mining, Maynilad, MediaQuest, and TV5.

The companies contributed P500 million funding for five years for the foundation, the largest private sector commitment for technology entrepreneurship in the country.

Aside from the initial seed money of P500,000 per startup, Valencia said the winners would receive mentorship from executives from the group companies, access to resources including legal assistance and advice on operational control.

The winners would also get free office spaces, housing provisions for those from outside Metro Manila and a clear partner route to markets served by any company in the group – whose range of business translate to millions of households, subscribers, motorists and others.

In exchange for the support, IdeaSpace would have a 20 percent equity stake for each company incubated and the future revenues would go back to help fund other stat-ups.

IdeaSpace was launched last March 5 and targets early stage start-ups in the industries of water and power utilities, toll roads and transportation, healthcare, mining, telecommunications, media and food.

The program is also open to applicants focused on solutions for other industries but have potentially significant global potential or developmental impact.