Entrepreneurs across sectors including enterprise tech and sustainability gathered for TGS 2023, which was held in conjunction with the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF).
Singapore continues to be the bright spot for Asia’s venture activity and tech growth and TGS 2023’s mission is to drive global economic and social impact from Singapore and Southeast Asia. For the first time, TGS 2023 was held in conjunction with the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF), encouraging the exchange of ideas between the world’s largest entrepreneurship event and the world’s most impactful fintech festival.
TGS 2023 saw global investors, entrepreneurs and enterprise innovators convene from across the globe to discuss emerging trends and opportunities in sustainability, technological advancement, and social impact, as well as the pivotal role of entrepreneurship in driving innovative solutions. The event featured more than 100 speakers from the investor and founder communities, inspirational leaders from sports and entertainment, and industry leaders such as Ant Group, GitHub, Microsoft, DBS Bank and many more.
TGS was also graced by guest-of-honours such as Alvin Tan, Singapore Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Minister of State for Culture, who attended the TGS Inauguration Gala & Awards Dinner.
The closing day headline session included Minister Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Republic of Indonesia who spoke about Delivering Education to Millions through the Power of Technology.
Other notable speakers included:
Acclaimed Film Director and Producer, Shekhar Kapur; Inspirational sports legends Stephen Fleming, Geoff Allott, Prakash Padukone, & Dr Deng Yaping; renowned investors Jack Selby, Tim Draper & Vinod Khosla and many more.
“Each year, TGS 2023 brings the global epicentre of entrepreneurship to the brightest ecosystems, with Singapore being the launchpad to the rest of the world. We are heartened to see the vibrant entrepreneur network grow in Singapore, fuelled by the ever-growing opportunities in the technology space. Beyond the flagship event, TiE Singapore is committed to continue engaging the start-up community, especially in the tech and sustainability space, and facilitate deal-making and networking sessions throughout the year,” said Amit Gupta, President of TiE Singapore and a Singapore FinTech Festival Ambassador.
TGS 2023 was committed to strengthening innovation capabilities and driving cross-border collaborations. Some key highlights at the event included:
- TiE Women Global Pitch Competition: TiE Women is an initiative of TiE Global with a mission to embrace, engage and empower women entrepreneurs globally irrespective of size of enterprise, origin, and background. In 2023, the programme has awarded USD50,000 in equity-free cash grants, and USD450,000 in in-kind grants. The finals of TiE’s largest running global investment support program for women-led ventures from 62 countries culminated at TGS 2023. This year, more than 1,600 applications were received for the TiE Women Global Pitch Competition. The winner this year was awarded to Akshita Sachdeva, Co-Founder of Trestle Labs | Kibo.
- TiE-KPMG SEA Entrepreneur of the Year Awards: The TiE x KPMG SEA Entrepreneur of The Year Awards are a recognition of entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, who are the top business leaders from the Southeast Asia region. For the TiE x KPMG SEA Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, over 120 nominations were received and winners of the Entrepreneur of the Year award were a tie between Hari V Krishnan, Group CEO & MD, Property Guru and Lim Wai Mun , Founder & CEO, Doctor Anywhere; the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award was given to Gregory Van, CEO, Endowus, and the High Impact Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Kamarulazman Muhamed, CEO & Co-Founder, Aerodyne Group at TGS 2023. These winners were judged by an eminent panel of industry leaders, investors ably supported by the KPMG team.
- The Big Spark: Episodic show bringing the most promising startups and the biggest judges, investors and ecosystem players together to shine the spotlight on Southeast Asia’s most innovative, inspiring entrepreneurial talent and their game-changing business ideas.
“We’re honoured to emerge champion in the 2023 TiE Women Global Pitch Competition. Throughout the process, we’ve received valuable mentorship from entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders. Moving forward, with funds and support from the TiE network, we are looking at international expansion and deepening our impact in India by enhancing our technology, to cement our commitment to groundbreaking and socially-impactful work,” said Akshita Sachdeva, Co-Founder at Trestle Labs | Kibo.
TGS 2023 was proudly sponsored by many leading organisations, including large corporate and global investors. The Platinum Sponsors included Microsoft, We Founder Circle, Investt and Avinya.
Apart from TGS 2023, TiE is also committed to providing opportunities to support promising, early-stage companies in Singapore to scale their business globally.
The TiE Singapore Angels programme provides early-stage companies access to serial entrepreneurs, tech executives and other professional investors to help them expand their business. In Singapore, TiE Angels host a session each month for investors and entrepreneurs to meet and collaborate, and to date, the programme in Singapore has provided funding support for 63 start-ups.
To bolster TiE’s network in Southeast Asia, TiE launched the TiE Indonesia Chapter yesterday, 19th November 2023. As one of the most promising markets in the region, the TiE Indonesia Chapter aims to foster entrepreneurship as a force for good and growth, and nurture Indonesian startups and micro, small and medium enterprises with the motto “Better Business Better World”.
TGS will be hosted in Bangalore next year. In the meantime, TiE Singapore will continue to hold regular innovation-centric initiatives and programmes to drive collaboration among global and local innovators throughout the year.
For further information, log on to the website at www.tieglobalsummit.org.
