Huawei to invest US$100mil to support APAC startup ecosystem 

• Aims to build sustainable startup ecosystem in Asia Pacific over three years
• Will develop four startup hubs in Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka & Vietnam

HUAWEI announced its plan to invest US$100mil (RM422.1mil) in startup support at its inaugural Spark Founders Summit, which took place simultaneously in Singapore and Hong Kong this week.

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In a statement, the company said the investment would go towards its Spark Programme, which is aimed at building a sustainable startup ecosystem in the Asia Pacific region over the next three years. 

In the past, the company has helped Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand build their startup hubs, the company claimed.

It said this recently announced will focus on developing four additional startup hubs in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam with the overarching aim of recruiting 1,000 startups, out of which 100 are scale-ups.

At the summit, Huawei also launched its Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Programme, to further ramp up its support for startups around the world. 

The company said it will devote ongoing efforts and leverage its complete business portfolio in the cloud-plus-cloud collaboration space to foster technological innovation, global and local services, and accelerate the growth of startups.

Three additional startup-related initiatives were also launched at the event.

They include The Spark Developer Programme, which is aimed at nurturing a developer ecosystem powered by Huawei Cloud in the Asia Pacific region; the Spark Pitstop Programme, designed to onboard and support startups on Huawei Cloud to accelerate product development; and the Spark Innovation Programme, which focuses on facilitating enterprise innovation through the Spark startup ecosystem.

"We are stepping up our support for startups through four new initiatives, aimed at cloud-plus-cloud collaboration, continuous tech innovation, global and local services, and high-quality business ecosystems.

"We launched our Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Programme, through which we will support startups with US$40 mil worth of resources,” said Zhang Ping'an, chief executive officer (CEO) of Huawei's cloud business unit. 

“In 2021, we plan to support 200 startups and share our network of channel resources with developers worldwide who together serve 1 billion Huawei device users," Zhang added. 

Dr. Lim Jui, CEO of SGInnovate said, "The true impact of the deep tech economy is realised when we're able to come together to catalyse new opportunities. Working alongside partners like Huawei enables us to accomplish our mission of supporting promising talent and emerging tech startups in Singapore."

The Huawei Cloud Spark Founders Summit 2021 is supported by SGInnovate, Association and Small & Medium Enterprises and Singapore Tourism Board.

Themed, “Where It All Begins,” the summit connected founders with policymakers, enterprises and investors, to harness thought leadership and best practices, and to amplify innovation and entrepreneurship.