Singapore’s first government-backed blockchain accelerator, Tribe Accelerator, announced recently that it had raised US$15.7 million in funds for the purpose of boosting blockchain technology among its participating startups and partners as part of an initiative to spearhead innovation and growth of the blockchain ecosystem across the region of Southeast Asia. The announcement was made during the blockchain accelerator’s first Demo Day of its Tribe Global Demo Tour, which involves its second batch of acceleratees and signals the final phase of its accelerator program.
The fundraising effort by Tribe Accelerator also saw the participation and backing of Enterprise Singapore, which is the combination of two entities, International Enterprise Singapore and SPRING, into a single government agency with a focus on advocating enterprise development and supporting the growth of home-grown companies and startups. The blockchain accelerator aims to further innovate and expand the blockchain ecosystem in Singapore through partnerships and collaborative efforts by 2020. Participating companies and startups that have innovative blockchain solutions and services to offer for various industries and sectors ranging from healthcare to public spending that are members of Tribe Accelerator’s second batch of acceleratees include WhiteCoat, Eximchain, Affle, Bluezelle, AID:Tech, Pilab, DiMuto, Torus and Aqiliz.
Tribe Accelerator has been on a tear in the blockchain space lately. Besides its latest successful fundraising endeavor that saw the blockchain accelerator garner support from Enterprise Singapore, it had managed to sign a MOU with the Middle Easts’ first and premier fintech accelerator and hub, the Dubai International Financial Center FinTech Hive. The MOU was signed at the Singapore Fintech Festival X SWITCH 2019 event which was held last month, and is part of Tribe Accelerator’s efforts to increase its reach and showcase their portfolio companies and startups’ blockchain solutions and applications on a global stage to some of the world’s best minds and innovators in the blockchain tech space. Indeed, for its second group of cohorts their demo days will be held in the major cities of Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and Dubai, with 2 of those cities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to the Dubai International Financial Center FinTech Hive.
According to Ng Yi Ming, managing partner at Tribe Accelerator, the Demo Days are significant for nurturing the growth of companies and startups that have the ability to create and innovate new solutions and services that can potentially transform the present landscape of the blockchain industry and bring advantages and gains to customers and end-users, thus driving mass adoption of the emerging technology.
As part of its push to further drive blockchain technology adoption in Singapore and the region of Southeast Asia, Tribe Accelerator also collaborated with Infocomm Media Development Authority to launch a blockchain directory platform, OpenNodes, which is a joint initiative that is designed to bring key stakeholders of the blockchain ecosystem, such as tech companies, government agencies and blockchain-focused startups, together under a single umbrella to better facilitate cooperation and communication. Besides the introduction of the hyperconnected platform, Tribe Accelerator also established a partnership with IOV Labs in November to make available RSK’s second layer protocol and third layer services marketplace, RIF, in Singapore to boost the blockchain ecosystem and provide workable blockchain-focused solutions to help businesses overcome real world challenges.
Singapore blockchain accelerator Tribe Accelerator has introduced several key initiatives this year that are aimed at boosting the blockchain ecosystem and connecting various stakeholders together for driving more collaborations and innovations that will ultimately benefit all parties involved. With the new funding and support from Enterprise Singapore along with the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dubai International Financial Center FinTech Hive, Tribe Accelerator is seeing to it that blockchain technology is being adopted at the national level while its international partnerships and collaborations with foreign government bodies will give a much-needed lift to the region’s blockchain ecosystem.
