Spotlight on Philippine startups, entrepreneurs

Key government agencies, homegrown startup heroes and industry enablers convened late last year to celebrate and accelerate the Filipino startup ecosystem with the Philippine Startup Week 2023.

Held in November 2023, the event was organized by the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Information and Communications Technology with the support of QBO Innovation Hub, a public-private sector partnership and startup enabler, and other startup ecosystem stakeholders including Bossjob and Uniquecorn Strategies.

Themed “Investing in Filipino Homegrown Heroes as Global Game Changers,” the week-long event focused on putting the spotlight on 170-plus Filipino startup heroes and bolstering Philippine startup investments in the face of a global “funding winter.” 

On its fifth year, the event attracted 3,000-plus attendees to a week-long series of activities designed to forge important partnerships among startup founders, investors, corporates, academia and government agencies.

The conference presented a lineup of some 170 leaders from the startup community, including Bing Tan of Packworks, Dean Bernales of Uniquecorn Strategies, Dennis Ng of Mober, Kimberly Chen of Bossjob and Nichel Gaba of PDAX.

Among the notable investors and ecosystem enablers who graced the event were Franco Varona of Foxmont Capital, Melvin Chan of PLDT Enterprise, Uriah Velunta of Multisys, Puiyan Leung of Vertex Ventures, Dylan Keota of A2D Ventures, Paulo Campos of Kaya Founders, Niña Terol of Imaginable Impact, Tina Nepomuceno-Di Cicco of Manila Angel Investors Network, Jojo Malolos of PayMongo, Rene Cuartero of AHG Lab, Mike Maté of Kickstart Ventures, Natasha Bautista of 917Ventures and Carlo Delantar of Gobi-Core Philippines.

Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship chairperson Senator Mark Villar (fourth from left) with serial entrepreneur and CNN Philippines’ ‘The Final Pitch’ host John Aguilar, AHG Lab co-founder and CEO Rene Cuartero, Foxmont Capital Partners managing partner Franco Varona, Philippine IdeaSpace Investments and QBO Innovation Hub executive director Katrina Chan, IdeaSpace Foundation and QBO Innovation Hub president Rene ‘Butch’ Meily and Kaya Founders founding managing general partner Paulo Campos. (PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PHSW23)

Throughout the conference, around 60 community events were held in 17 cities across the Philippines, extending beyond Metro Manila to provinces and cities such as Albay, Baguio, Batangas, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Camarines Sur, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Dumaguete, Iligan, Misamis Oriental and Pampanga.

The events served as a mecca for startups to learn, interact, network and collaborate through five tracks: Discover, Develop, Collaborate, Invest and Showcase, each offering unique experiences for attendees.

In addition to the main conference activities, the most promising Filipino startups of the year were spotlighted during the “Top 100 Startups SHOWQASE by QBO” and the inaugural “KMC Startup Awards,” recognizing the awarded startups’ contributions and impact to the growth of the Philippine startup ecosystem.

PHSW23 also championed female leadership in the startup sector, offering a dedicated platform for women at the forefront of innovation through panel discussions organized by Startup Pinay by QBO.

Government-led summits further enriched the conference, including the “Slingshot Conference x Venture Pilipinas” by DTI in Metro Manila, the “Technology Business Incubator Summit” by the DOST in Iloilo and “Geeks On A Beach” by the DICT and Geeks PH in Bohol.