Mediacorp launches The Big Spark to connect budding entrepreneurs across Southeast Asia with investors
SINGAPORE — Mediacorp launched a new initiative that aims to connect aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators with investors on Thursday (Nov 16) during this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival.
Known as The Big Spark, the initiative will kick off with an eight-part business reality show that will air across CNA platforms from February 2024, said Mediacorp in a media release.
The Big Spark will gather aspiring founders and entrepreneurs from diverse sectors and industries such as FinTech; environmental, social, and corporate governance or ESG; educational technology; artificial intelligence (AI); Software as a Service (SaaS) and health and wellness, hailing from countries across Southeast Asia.
A total of 24 start-up teams from the region have been shortlisted to participate in the show after a call for applications in October.
Over eight episodes, the start-ups will pitch and test their best business ideas — through a series of challenges and master classes — to some of the region’s most prominent venture capitalists for more than S$1 million in seed funding.
They will do so under the mentorship of resident judges Roshni Mahtani Cheung, founder and group CEO of The Parentinc — which operates parenting community platform theAsianparent — and Mr Lim Wai Mun, founder and CEO of health and wellness company Doctor Anywhere.
Guest judges from companies such as Zoom, UOB and Google Cloud will also feature in the show.
Beyond the reality show, The Big Spark aims to be a platform to “cement Singapore’s position as a launchpad for innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Mediacorp.
“In its capacity as Singapore’s national media network, Mediacorp will lend its wide reach and multiple platforms to support the region’s start-up culture, connecting key players across the ecosystem to nurture promising enterprise.”
The company added that it hopes for The Big Spark to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs across Singapore and Southeast Asia and give them the support they need to scale up their businesses and soar.
Mediacorp’s chief commercial and digital officer Parminder Singh said that innovators in Southeast Asia have “never stopped imagining the impossible” despite challenges in recent years.
“It is with this exciting prospect in mind that we conceived The Big Spark as a platform for them to connect with investors and raise the capital needed for their ideas to lift off,” said Mr Singh.
Executive producer and director of The Big Spark Jonathan Glazier said that he was delighted to be asked to develop the new business reality show with Mediacorp.
“The Big Spark is very much in the new breed of reality show. Rather than being about conflict and drama, it’s about supportive communities; a series for good, if you will,” he added.
“Unlike other business reality shows, we aim to reflect the reality of the entrepreneurial journey, to support and to inspire.” CNA
