Ladies and gentlemen, good morning!
I am pleased to be here at our 7th year of the Slingshot Conference, which is the 2nd year we’ve been conducting this Conference virtually. The Slingshot Conference has always been one of our major activities for startups where we showcase Filipino creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Regardless of whether we hold events in person or online, I am humbled to see the strong support from key local and international startup players, as we move towards building a robust startup ecosystem in the Philippines.
To provide context and continuity for this year’s very relevant discussions, allow me to look back to last year’s Slingshot where we discussed the many opportunities amidst the challenges at the height of the pandemic. Many of our startups led the way and offered solutions to real-world problems. This included delivering much needed products and services such as ed-tech, digital services, healthcare, and fintech. These helped us go on with our daily lives and continue to do business despite COVID-19. This year’s theme is timely and relevant especially as we rise from this crisis, while we take note of how many of our Filipino startups turned adversity into success.
Last year, we were fortunate to have been joined by leaders of global startup enablers, particularly from the United States, Taiwan, and Singapore who discussed models of collaboration among ecosystem stakeholders from different countries and regions. They discussed how these collaboration models provide much needed support and lifelines for startups during the pandemic, and showed us the most viable way forward for the startup community especially as the world expects to recover and even experience a projected boom post-pandemic. I am pleased to share with all of you that this year, we will be joined by innovation movers and shakers from Korea, Israel, and France as we continue to reach out to other countries and explore more potential collaborations. I would especially like to mention that our speaker from France, Kat Borlongan, who until recently, impressively headed France’s La French Tech, is one of our own.
In Slingshot 2020 we showcased and applauded several
Filipino startups that performed exceedingly well. They shared their
success stories, experiences and gave valuable
advice for other aspiring startups to carefully study relevant data;
take advantage of the country’s unique
position when developing an idea; and seek help from more
experienced startup enablers as they journey to establish, scale up, and globalize their ventures.
And as part of the Slingshot Conference in 2020, last year’s event culminated with the ground-breaking Online Seedstars Manila Competition, sponsored by Seedstars, a Swiss-based private group of companies with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship.
This year, we are marking a major milestone as we launch the Philippine Startup Venture Fund coupled with a demo and pitch event. I am honored to invite everyone here to join us in our Startup Venture Fund (or SVF) Pitch event tomorrow afternoon.
Allow me to zoom in now to the latest developments in our startup ecosystem. The recent annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) shows us that the Manila startup ecosystem is still in its Activation Phase. The GSER 2021 puts the value of Manila’s startup ecosystem at USD 584 million, with a total early-stage funding of USD 101 million. Manila’s startup ecosystem is also ranked in the GSER among the top 100 emerging ecosystems in the world and ranks highly among the top 20 ecosystems in the world for Bang for Buck, as well as among the top 20 for having Affordable Talent.
Today, we are fortunate to have with us Startup Genome’s Head of Ecosystem Consulting Stephan Kuester to present their findings and valuable recommendations on how we can accelerate our startup ecosystem. As government policymakers and regulators, we are here to listen and learn, as we chart our own startup ecosystem’s path to greater heights.
The 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report once again highlights our strengths in Fintech and eCommerce. Factors that propelled our relative success in these sectors include our high adaption rate of crucial digital services such as mobile banking and digital wallets, an enabling regulatory environment, and the high number of unbanked and underserved Filipinos that gave ample room for our fintech startups to prosper. Despite the pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn, our local fintech startups managed to increase their volume of transactions and were able to raise substantial funding that enabled them to scale and expand.
This accelerated digital transformation paved the way for the growth of e-commerce. This year, we came out with the e-Commerce Philippines 2022 Roadmap to ensure continued strategic direction to accelerate growth.
According to the e-Conomy Southeast Asia Report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the Southeast Asian internet economies are showing double-digit growth with the Philippines in the lead at 93% growth rate from 2020 to 2021. The forecast growth of transactions for the Philippines is from $9 billion to $17 billion, reaching $40 billion by 2025. We have also yielded 12 million new e-commerce users during the pandemic—the highest proportion of new users in the region.
We are confident that with the latest positive developments reported
by many of our leading startups,
coupled with our steady supply
of fresh and highly innovative talent, the Philippine startup ecosystem will soon
join the ranks of those of our peers in the region and from other parts of the
world.
For our part, the DTI is continuously developing impactful and sustainable programs as we move towards the country’s goal of developing globally competitive and innovative industry sectors that will bring about inclusive growth and employment generation in the Philippines.
To help with this strategy, we have been forming Regional Inclusive Innovation Centers (RIICs) in partnership with the Departments of Science and Technology (DOST), Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and other national government agencies and regional stakeholders such as the academe. Through the RIICs, we will connect startups in the regions with the various agents in the regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. These stakeholders include corporates, funders, accelerators, incubators, innovation hubs, as well as government agencies, universities and academic institutions and service providers.
We also have programs intended to complement the respective programs of DOST and DICT as we work together in implementing the Innovative Startup Act.
These include the Incubation, Development, and Entrepreneurship Assistance (IDEA), Accelerating Development, Valuation, and Corporate Entrepreneurship (ADVanCE), and our Global Acceleration Program. We are going to implement these programs together with our partners: incubators, accelerators, venture funders, and other key enablers aiding aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators.
Fourth, and as I have earlier mentioned, we are launching this year the Startup Venture Fund (SVF) as mandated under the newly enacted Innovative Startup Act. This fund will be used to match investments of selected investors in startups based in the Philippines, either by creating a fund of funds or by direct investment infusion in strategically selected startups.
Lastly, we will be establishing, in coordination with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), the Startup Business One Stop Shop (or SBOSS), where end-to-end registration of startups can be facilitated. It will serve as a platform containing all information on the legal and regulatory processes involved from opening, operating, to closing or exiting a startup, in accordance to Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act, and other related laws.
Since 2017, the DTI has promoted 121 PH startups in 26 international events in 10 countries on three continents.
We have partnered with the QBO Innovation Hub and the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT), in conducting outbound business matching missions intended to support innovation and to help Filipino startups to scale up and expand to new markets.
The Philippine government also
sent delegates to some of the
largest technology conferences and events in the USA, Canada,
Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Germany, among others. Given the limitations and restrictions imposed
as a result of the pandemic,
we still endeavor to participate and promote startups at many of these global events.
As we look forward to the coming months, let us continue working together and build upon our key advantages in fintech, e-commerce, manufacturing, and digital services. The increased adoption of digital technologies will be our means to sustain our economic growth and competitiveness in the coming years.
We must keep working as one Filipino creative community of innovators, entrepreneurs, and enablers. Together, let us build a nation that is forward-looking, sustainable, and inclusive.
Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat! ♦
Date of Release: 18 November 2021