IdeaSpace Foundation (IdeaSpace), the MVP Group’s startup accelerator, through its venture capital arm, IdeaSpace Investments, recently announced its appointment as a co-investment partner (CIP) of the Startup Venture Fund (SVF), the Philippine government’s most recent initiative to support the continued growth of the Philippines’ startup ecosystem.
Overseen by the National Development Company (NDC), the SVF has been allocated P500 million to be invested in the country’s most promising tech startups, alongside a pool of accredited CIPs.
Following its accreditation, IdeaSpace will work closely with the SVF to co-invest in innovative, high-growth tech ventures from around the country, as part of its mission to scale the Philippine startup ecosystem.
Speaking at Synapse,an event hosted by NDC for SVF partners, IdeaSpace Executive Director Katrina Rausa Chan hailed the SVF as a critical driver for growing the Philippine startup ecosystem.
“Government investment can be a powerful catalyst for the startup sector, as we’ve seen in some of the world’s most successful ecosystems such as Israel, Singapore, China and the US. We believe the SVF will likewise provide highly impactful capital investment and support to startups, that will in turn increase the Philippines’ competitiveness,” Ms. Chan said.
“IdeaSpace has always been a strong believer in public-private partnerships. We worked closely with the government in launching QBO Innovation Hub in 2016 that had a tremendous impact, and we’re honored to have the opportunity to take this collaboration a step further, as a co-investment partner of the SVF,” she added.
IdeaSpace Investments boasts early access to a pipeline of high-potential, early stage startups in the Philippines through its accelerator programs and strong partnerships with key ecosystem stakeholders. Leveraging this unique vantage point and the recent appointment as an SVF CIP, IdeaSpace Investments is positioned to continue providing much-needed capital to startups from pre-seed to Series A stage, spanning a broad range of high-growth sectors; including agritech, edtech, property tech, small and medium enterprises enablement, business-to-business enterprise software-as-a-service, HR and the Future of Work, and infrastructure and logistics, among many others.
Since IdeaSpace’s inception in 2012, it has been scaling, exploring synergies with and investing in tech-enabled startups. At present, its portfolio startups include local tech heroes such as Flowerstore, Mosaic, Mayani, ChatGenie, 1Export, Packworks, Prosperna, Humble Sustainability, Qwikwire, and Wela School Systems.
“This accreditation represents real monetary value to our pipeline of prospective startup investees that are pitching for funding this year and into the future. We’re excited to be joining this pool of exceptional investors in our joint mission to accelerate the takeoff of the Philippines’ startup ecosystem, and discover and develop the next Filipino tech giants,” said Ben Alderson, head of investments at IdeaSpace, of its appointment as a CIP of SVF.
