Winners of SLINGSHOT 2022 announced

This year marks the sixth edition of SLINGSHOT, attracting over 3,600 startup applicants from more than 150 markets including leading startup hubs such as Israel, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam.

Asia as a whole saw increased participation this year, accounting for 55 per cent of applications as compared to 31 per cent in 2021.

The top 50 finalists went through an intense three-day final, culminating in a final live pitching session by the top 10 in front of a judging panel comprising renowned international players from venture firms such as Antler, East Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Vertex Ventures.

The grand winner

Peter Ong, chairman of Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) – a judge at the grand finals and gave out the prizes – said, “The finalists we saw today offered innovative solutions that have the potential to address important industry and societal concerns. To help them and more startups execute their innovative solutions, we must work together with partners to give them the right resources and support. With upcoming global headwinds and a more cautious investor climate, access to financing, talent, and connections will be particularly important.”

At SWITCH 2022, the startups had opportunities to understand the landscape in Singapore and gained access to potential investors, corporate partners, and community enablers across the ecosystem.

These included private sector enablers such as Amazon Web Services, Baker McKenzie, Catapult at Rochester Commons, Google, deep tech VC SOSV, and key associations such as Action Community for Entrepreneurship, and SGTech, as well as government agencies such as the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and JTC.

Organised by EnterpriseSG, SLINGSHOT is the marquee deep tech startup pitching competition that provides startups with an international platform to profile themselves to corporates, industry veterans, and investors.

Since 2017, the top 40 SLINGSHOT winners have gone on to raise more than S$560 million (over $395 million) in investments.

Winners of SLINGSHOT 2022

Singapore startup Peptobiotics, competing in the Environment, Energy & Green Technologies domain, was the winner of the grand prize at the finals.

Standing out for its innovative synthetic biology alternative to livestock antibiotics, the startup aims to leverage advances in both human medicine and synthetic biology to create an antibiotic-free agricultural system.

The Grand Winner took home an additional S$200,000 ($141,000) Startup SG grant on top of the domain prize and 18 months of rent-free space at JTC Launchpad.

The first runner-up was E3A Healthcare and the second was Wasna, which both competed in the Healthcare & Biomedical challenge domain. E3A Healthcare received an additional S$150,000 ($106,000) Startup SG grant, while Wasna received an additional S$100,000 (almost $71,000). They also received 12 and 6 months of rent-free space at JTC Launchpad respectively.

The top 10 domain winners were awarded a S$50,000 (just over $35,000) Startup SG grant each. All the winners stand to get support from EnterpriseSG to expand their business operations in Singapore.

Two domain winners were awarded for their outstanding solutions across each of the challenge domains:

i) Manufacturing, trade and connectivity

ii) Health and biomedical

iii) Environment, energy and green technologies

iv) Transformative digital technologies

v) Consumer media, goods and services

Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2022 Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2022 – themed innovation and digital transformation solutions for the business community – will contribute to attracting investment in Vietnam in a sustainable way, creating favourable conditions for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to join the value chain.

Vietnam startup 4.0 – connecting for new opportunities The Vietnam Startup 4.0 Forum was held on October 19, bringing an opportunity to increase connectivity and cooperation in the future.

Boosting the national startup ecosystem Returning after a 3-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Vietnam Startup 4.0 Forum 2022 has provided an opportunity to connect passions, promote creativity, and increase investments in startup projects in Vietnam.

SWITCH 2022 Singapore spotlights opportunities for collaboration in innovation The Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2022 opened on October 25, galvanising collaboration in innovation and cross-border partnerships.