Start Up Asia In Jakarta Now Accepting Applicants

A Call for Start Ups To Pitch, Battle and Win In Jakarta

After wrapping up the Jakarta Startup Arena two months ago, the next round of pitch, battle and win is now accepting applicants again. The next Start Up Asia Jakarta will be held on June 7 and 8 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Startup Arena is a startup competition for entrepreneurs that operates within Startup Asia, Singapore 2012. It serves as launchpad for startups to get a headstart in the mobile and internet industry in Asia. Around 20 startups will be selected to pitch and challenge on the next Arena stage. This will be done in front of top investors, industry leaders, and the press and it has a top prize of US$10,000.

Submissions will be reviewed on a first-come-first-serve basis so it would be best to submit applications early so there will be enough time to start preparing for the pitch. The demo is a primary requirement to compete in Startup Arena Jakarta and pitches have to be in English. A team from Startup Arena will also be on hand to provide a week-by-week consultation to help applicants practice their pitch. The previous Startup Arena Singapore competition attracted a total of 300 applications and out of this number, 19 startups were chosen to compete in the final round.

In the previous Start up Asia, an educational collaboration platform called Teamie won at the Startup Arena in Singapore. Start ups GushCloud and Phroni also emerged as finalists and have also secured seed funding from various investors. Shivanu Shukla, co-founder of Teamie stated that " Arena gave me confidence in my pitching skills, and the validation from the judges and the audience in our startup. Of course, winning Arena was a huge deal to me and my team. As an entrepreneur you are constantly battling challenges, and sometimes you need some external motivations. It’s great to get validation for your idea, your company and the hard work that everyone in the team is putting behind it. Teamie was [practically] in stealth mode when Startup Arena happened, and then suddenly we became the startup people wanted to know about, talk to, and explore opportunities with. We’ve managed to link with a few investors and are having discussions with them, all thanks to Startup Arena."

So if you are one of those who have a winning idea and is looking for seed money and funding, mark these dates on your calendar and make your application now to the Start Up Jakarta event on June 7 and 8, 2012.