THE Quezon City government has revealed the Top 9 finalists out of nearly 70 applicants in the Filipino startups under the professional category.
Mayor Joy Belmonte, who personally congratulated the finalists, told The Manila Times on Monday that each of them would receive P1 million in financial grants from the local government, aside from hands-on mentorship, capacity building sessions, and access to a growing network of investors and innovation partners.
The finalists — Agapai, Kazam, Hireable, Laro, Soolok, Xamun, Kahero, Nascent Technologies, and Briyo Energy — were expected to get mentorship from numerous experts coming from various fields, particularly on legal and regulatory aspects, developing a startup marketing strategy, and unit economics and cash conversion cycle, among others.
Launched in 2022, the program already helped at least 16 professional startups from diverse industries ranging from technology, sustainability, creative economy, and education, said the mayor.
“We thought of this program in order to help and support our young entrepreneurs to sharpen their business strategies, prepare for long-term sustainability and help the city and the country in boosting the economy and creating more employment opportunities for others,” Belmonte told The Times.
Belmonte said that the nine finalists were chosen because of their potential to grow further and become more relevant to the people — for instance, the Briyo Energy, creates a modular bamboo-based wind and hydro turbines that cut costs by 70 percent and carbon emission by 90 percent while reaching off-grid communities.
Meanwhile, Hireable is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered freelance hiring platform with smart matching, key performance indicators tracking, and trial-drive funnels, while Kazam is an on-demand platform that connects homeowners with household helpers through flexible, part-time help.
Likewise, the city government cited finalists Laro, a one-stop platform for discovering, booking, and joining sports and tabletop games; and Nascent Technologies that are safer, zero-maintenance sodium-ion batteries with three times the lifespan of lead-acid.
Also, the LGU said that Agapai Technology is an AI tool for developmental screening, linking families to pediatricians and early childhood care and development centers; while Kahero is a cloud-based point of sale (POS) with expense tracking, franchise management, and real-time oversight.
The other finalists were the Soolok Properties Inc, which is a marketplace for property buyers to discover foreclosures from different banks in one place; and the Xamun Technologies, which is an AI-powered business outsourcing and remote team management solutions.
