According to recent rankings released by HubSpot, Singapore has overtaken San Francisco as the city with the highest concentration of fast-growing startups worldwide. It is hence no surprise that Singapore is considered the venture capital (VC) capital of Southeast Asia, with nearly 80% of all new VC funding raised in Southeast Asia secured by Singapore-based companies in 2023.
A key factor to the success of the local innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem can be attributed to the government’s commitment to backing innovative and Singapore-based startups, including an additional S$440 million of funding in local deep tech startups.
Robust support from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has also been instrumental, with its Spark and Accreditation programmes providing a crucial bridge between early-stage deep tech startups and the wider market. By offering validation, networks, and even first-customer opportunities through these programmes, IMDA helps founders overcome the classic barriers that plague young companies, such as the lack of a track record and reference customers.
Perhaps even more uniquely, Singapore’s entrepreneurship landscape is a highly collaborative public-private community with government agencies, universities, corporations and founders frequently joining forces and pooling resources. For instance, globally renowned competitions like Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) are designed to connect young founders with top business leaders and venture capitalists, while large enterprises and government bodies are open to piloting solutions from startups, often facilitated by programmes like those driven by IMDA. This spirit of collaboration means a startup in Singapore is never isolated. Instead, it becomes part of a broader network that is designed to empower its success.
Spark: Breaking Barriers for Early-Stage Startups
As a government-led initiative designed to support high-potential young tech companies in scaling up, the IMDA Spark Programme[PK1] helps startups secure pilot projects and establish initial reputation in Singapore, through strong endorsement and mapping out of a tailored engagement plan that boosts the founders’ credibility, hones their business strategies and enable a closer connection with their first few important customers.
An example is Watermelon Software, which was just qualified and joined the IMDA Spark Programme in 2025. The start-upprovides enterprises with an AI-based, no-code platform that delivers software reliability at scale. “This is a testament to our commitment to delivering impactful solutions and driving value for our customers and partners,” commented Harpreet Singh, Watermelon’s co-founder who acknowledged that earning the Spark credential involved a rigorous due diligence process, including technical, financial, and business evaluations. Through IMDA, Watermelon gained access to the right audiences, empowering their go-to-market strategy and helping them reach relevant prospects more effectively.
AiLytics, which was also a finalist in the last edition of LKYGBPC, is another success story. Via IMDA’s Spark and later Accreditation Programmes, Ailytics had the right support to overcome their biggest challenge faced, which was uncovering the right connections in the conservative construction industry. Working with IMDA opened doors to key partners and customers and gave Ailytics a significant competitive advantage when working with government entities, which directly led to multiple contracts and partnerships. “Today, we aim to become the leading global video analytics solution provider for heavy industries and are actively scaling across various domains and expanding into new countries especially in Asia, Middle East and Australia, out from Singapore,” said Lenard Tan, CEO at AiLytics.
Accreditation: Gaining Trust and Access to Big Customers
Trust is key in business, and IMDA’s Accreditation Programme gives startups enhanced credibility to close deals with discerning enterprise-level customers. For young deep-tech firms gaining momentum, winning over larger-scale clients or investors often hinges on trust and proof of reliability. IMDA’s Accreditation Programme is hence designed to rigorously evaluate and endorse promising technology companies, effectively vouching for their product quality and staying power.
In fact, IMDA accredited companies get put on a fast track for opportunities that would normally be hard for newcomers to even hear about. The stamp of approval also increases a venture’s attractiveness to investors by signalling that the company has been thoroughly vetted for technical and financial soundness.
Take Visier for example, a recognised global player in people analytics. The Vancouver-born startup looked to establish a foothold in Singapore to springboard to the rest of Asia Pacific and turned to IMDA for guidance. Through recognition as an IMDA Accredited company, Visier was validated to government agencies and large enterprises in Singapore, which was crucial for building trust and securing new opportunities. Furthermore, the recent partnership with both IMDA and the Singapore Economic Development Board enabled the launch of Visier’s Singapore AI Lab which will act as a foundation to double its headcount in Singapore and the region over the next two years. “IMDA’s support certainly has helped us accelerate our proof-of-concept to production cycles and generate demand in Singapore and across the wider Asia Pacific region’” commented Boon Huat Lee, Chief Growth Officer, APAC at Visier.
Born out of a vision and decades of academic research to revolutionise how enterprises interact with and harness voice data, Fano Labs is also a success story born from IMDA Accreditation. To better adapt its language AI to Asia's complex linguistic landscape with diverse dialects and intonations, Fano worked with IMDA and obtained accreditation to validate its technology across multiple industries like banking, telecoms and the government. IMDA’s assistance also opened new market opportunities, enabling Fano Labs to successfully scale conversational AI solutions across Southeast Asia.
Singapore: A Thriving Startup Launchpad
These success stories underscore why Singapore stands out as a launchpad for startups, with national initiatives like the IMDA Spark and Accreditation Programmes as part of a broader strategy to enable Singapore’s “Smart Nation” vision and cement its status as a regional tech hub. From fintech sandboxes to startup tax incentives, pro-innovation policies are baked into the ecosystem. Startups also benefit from Singapore’s stable regulatory environment and transparent governance, key factors when growing a business.
To better match Singapore’s startups with the right stakeholders who understand their technologies and can uncover the right opportunities, IMDA is also partnering with the 12th LKYGBPC to host Venture Capital Office Hours (VCOH) on 29 September 2025, Southeast Asia’s biggest congregation of senior VCs who offer pro-bono advice. The platform not only can be an influential avenue to canvas for funding, receive valuable business advice and market validation from experienced investors, but can also open other doors to other potential customers or strategic partners within the ecosystem.
All these initiatives combine to make Singapore an extremely fertile ground for a new venture. As one IMDA-supported founder put it, Singapore is still the best gateway to the Asian market for deep tech startups. With its vibrant ecosystem, connected networks and proactive government, Singapore offers one of the world’s most conducive environments for a startup to grow internationally.
Want to find out more? Join the buzz at LKYGBPC
As the next edition of LKYGBPC beckons the world’s brightest young entrepreneurs, IMDA extends an open invitation to join VCOH. In the same week, ignite connections made with investors at the BLAZE Mixer Night on 2 October 2025, a dynamic networking event designed to spark collaboration between founders, investors, corporates, and ecosystem partners. Register your interest here, and forge new partnerships to fuel your next wave of groundbreaking ventures.
Come for the competition and stay for the opportunities by leveraging the LKYGBPC experience and tapping on IMDA’s resources to join a growing list of startups that have scaled new heights from Singapore. If you’re an international founder with an ambitious vision, now is the time to plug into Singapore’s robust network, whether through IMDA’s Spark programme that lights the fuse of a startup journey, or the IMDA Accreditation stamp that propels conversations with large enterprises. Your road from startup to international success story could well run through Singapore and IMDA is ready to walk that road with you.
- Contributing Writer: Vishal Menon
