MANILA, Philippines — The local government of Quezon City (QC) will be providing financial grants to help accelerate the growth of business startups.
In a statement yesterday, the QC government said it has officially opened applications for Cohort 3 of the Startup QC Professional Category under a program designed to help impactful startups drive the growth of the economy and innovation in the city.
Under the StartUp QC program, early-stage startups are onboarded to help them grow.
Qualified startups will be part of learning, engagement and development sessions for three to four months.
They will also be given opportunities to learn from and interact with industry experts, mentors, advisors and accelerators to help them advance from the prototype stage to develop market-ready products and services.
The program will culminate with a Demo Day, where participants will present their innovative ideas to a distinguished audience of stakeholders from the startup ecosystem and have the opportunity to receive equity-free financial grants of up to P1 million.
This initiative aligns with QC Mayor Joy Belmonte’s commitment to transforming QC into the startup and innovation capital of the Philippines and to drive job creation.
The StartUp QC program was established under QC Ordinance SP-3109 approved in 2022 to support innovative startups.
The program is backed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Department of Trade and Industry.
It is also supported by educational institutions such as Ateneo de Manila University, Miriam College, Technological Institute of the Philippines, Thames International Business School and the University of the Philippines Diliman, as well as startup accelerators StartUp Village and Launchgarage.