| Izah Azahari & Ishan Ibrahim |
THREE of the top start-ups involved in DARe (Darussalam Enterprise) fourth cycle of the 100-day Start-Up Bootcamp will conclude the programme with a Demo Day, where they will give sales pitches to a panel of investors from Golden Equator in Singapore.
The top three start-ups are Memori, a legacy planning platform; Rotuku, an online marketplace; and essentials.ai, an insurance technology service.
They were selected out of a pool of 18 start-ups that gave sales pitches before a panel from BIBD, Progresif and Golden Equator, this cycle’s Start-Up Bootcamp facilitator.
Towards the end of the programme, the selected start-ups have made progress of their own where Memori secured USD100,000 from 113 Venture Growth Fund, along with access to a pool of potential customers from two insurance agencies and Asia’s largest bereavement service provider.
essentials.ai, in the meantime, is seeking to utilise a chatbot service that can communicate more effectively with digital-savvy populations on insurance, while Rotuku has begun to internationalise its platform with the addition of 25,000 new products to its website from China, Malaysia and Indonesia next month.
According to Manager of DARe Pengiran Zainul Asri bin Pengiran Abdul Razak, the variety of start-ups developed from DARe’s Start-Up Bootcamp programmes range from smart farming, Islamic education, social enterprises, sports activities, transportation services, food and beverages, and many others.
“We encourage our local start-ups in all industries to join any one of our programmes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Adam Flinter, the Managing Partner for Golden Equator Consulting, in his capacity as one of the main facilitators of the bootcamps, said they are really thrilled to see the strong progress made by these start-ups, with the foundational knowledge to maximise their growth potential and achieve long-term business sustainability.
“Together with Golden Equator Capital, we have lined up key investors that will help open up opportunities for potential investment and collaboration for these Bruneian start-ups,” said Flinter.
The three start-ups will give sales pitches today to a bench of early-stage investors and venture builders such as Rekanext, Gree Ventures and REAPRA, at the offices of Golden Equator Group in Singapore.
Among the panel of investors is Fundnel, an investment platform that lists high-growth start-ups and companies for a qualified network of investors.
DARe’s Start-Up Bootcamp is a 100-day training programme designed to help entrepreneurs shape their businesses rapidly. The first three cycles of the Start-up Bootcamp saw 46 local start-ups collectively raise USD919K in investment, while providing employment to more than 360 people.