Singapore’s top two universities have launched a national incubator programme with an initial commitment of S$50 million ($37.7 million) to train up to 300 startup teams by 2028.
Dubbed as the National Graduate Research Innovation Program (Grip), the 12-month programme will be open to startups from all autonomous universities and A*STAT research institutes in Singapore, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said at an industry conference on Tuesday.
Set to launch next year, the programme also aims to support 150 spinoffs by 2023 and 100 deeptech projects a year. It will help groom founders and match them with venture capital investors
National Grip was born from the integration of two existing incubator programmes – the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Grip 2.0 and the Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Lean Launchpad, according to a statement. The two programmes have incubated over 400 startup teams and close to 160 spinoffs since they were launched around six to seven years ago.
“National GRIP will deepen partnerships with deeptech venture capitalists and venture builders, such as current NUS Grip 2.0 partners Legend Capital, SOSV Investments, and Vertex Holdings, by involving them early in the programme to provide stronger commercial insights,” the statement said.
The programme is also planning to leverage VCs’ networks to attract experienced founders to team up with the startups as co-founders, advisors or collaborators to accelerate their growth. It will help startups scale and expand internationally by leveraging the global network of NUS BLOCK713.
