The partnership with Rakuten makes Singapore the first Asian city to host the Techstars accelerator programme

Techstars, the global startup community builder, announced today the official launch of its accelerator programme in Singapore which will be run in partnership with the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

Singapore is the first Asian city to host the accelerator.

Named ‘Rakuten Accelerator powered by Techstars’ the programme is focussed on startups working in the messaging sector. This includes, among others, products like augmented reality, mobile wallets, voice/image recognition and content such as music or sports.

The first cohort will accept about 10 startups.

The programme will last for three-months and startups accepted will be granted a US$120,000 investment as well as perks development worth over US$1 million. The teams will also get access to the Techstars network of 5,000 founders, alumni and mentors.

Applications for the accelerator open on January 8th, 2018 and the first batch will start in July. In October, startups will have their Demo Day.

“This accelerator will be the first for Techstars in an Asian city, and ranks Singapore alongside other worldwide startup hubs like Boulder, New York, London, and Berlin,” said David Brown the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Techstars in a statement.

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The man heading the programme will be Hiroshi Takasawa (pictured), who is in charge of the Rakuten investment arm, Rakuten Capital, and was recently named the new CEO of Rakuten Asia. He has been with the company since 2005 and has been active in fintech, investments and M&A activity.

“Together with Techstars, an organization with a remarkable track record for developing startup talent, I am very optimistic that we can strengthen the Rakuten global ecosystem and advance the culture of open innovation,” said Takasawa.

One of the core reasons behind the “Messaging as a Platform” positioning is because of Rakuten’s messaging platform Viber. It is a core product for the company and has over 900 million users globally.

Techstars is largely considered one of the two premiere accelerator programmes in the world with Y Combinator being the other. It is famous for its unique birthplace of Boulder, Colorado (a college town of about 100,000 people) and the ethos that startups can come out of anywhere, not just Silicon Valley.

On average, alumni startups have gone on to raise US$2 million in outside funding.

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Rakuten is one of Asia’s more prominent e-commerce sites and recently it has increased its global profile by sponsoring the football club FC Barcelona and the Golden State Warriors basketball team.

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