The Singtel Future Makers startups are solving problems like healthcare for the poor, transportation for the disabled and empowering young people to help others with dementia

E-commerce continues to dominate Asia’s tech scene, and sectors like fintech, artificial intelligence and data analytics are enjoying success.

And yet, the sector that makes the most positive impact in our world consistently comes second-fiddle for investment and support.

In Singapore, there is an accelerator programme trying to reverse this phenomenon. Called Singtel Future Makers, the criteria is,

“Start-ups, whether social enterprises or not-for-profits, with relevant technological or innovative solutions that can solve for existing and emerging social sector challenges in Singapore and the region.”

The programme runs for four months and at the end, Singtel will select two startups to pitch for a funding pool of about S$60,000 (US$44,000).

Let’s meet the startups!

Allied World Healthcare

This company wants to improve access to healthcare for the region’s poor. It wants to build a technology platform that will allow existing community facilities to be transformed into access points for healthcare services. This could mean, schools, shops or community centres.

Embodied Sensing

Embodied Sensing is building a product called Knoctify, a smart notification device for the deaf. I lights up whenever a visitor knocks on the door and can be put in a vibrate mode so it can notify people who are sleeping. It can also alert people of incoming messages on their phone.

Hapticus

This startup is building a technology to help improve transportation efficiency for people with disabilities in major metropolitan areas. Most cities have professional services that will pick-up and drop-off people who cannot drive themselves, but navigation can be a nightmare.

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The app helps drivers navigate to the correct address and inform the rider if they are delayed because of something like a traffic jam.

Pillpresso

(Maxerence Pte. Ltd.)

Pillpresso is a tool to automatically sort and dispense medications. We are all familiar with the plastic cartridges sorted by day, but that is a manual process prone to error. Pillpresso is working on a tool that will automate the procedure.

Project We Forget

 

This is a community network programme targeting people under the age of 39, to help educate and empower them to take care of people with dementia. On its website it has a ‘wall of support’, a community access portal and a platform to connect with people who understand the problem.

Solve Education!

 

This company wants to help people who do not attend traditional schools. It is building educational games to help facilitate self-learning. As the proliferation of smartphones continues Solve Education! thinks it can help improve the education options for people from all types of backgrounds.

TalentTribe

TalentTribe wants to help people get a better understanding of a company culture before they apply for a job. It gives people an insight into the key people, the office environment and (obviously) the types of jobs being offered. It’s also not just text, leveraging video to help the applicant get an idea of the business.

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