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Programme will focus on improving the accessibility of insurance and customer experience, including catering to the unserved and underserved in Singapore

From left – Mr Edmas Neo (Regional Director, Partnerships & Collaborative Innovation, IIPL), Mr Peter Tay (Chief Operations Officer, NTUC Income), Mr Jeremy Ong (Chief Technology Officer, NTUC Income), Mr Ken Ng (Chief Executive, NTUC Income), Dr. Alex Lin (Head, IIPL) and Mr Pang Heng Soon (General Manager, IIPL)

NTUC Income (Income), a Singapore-based insurance services provider, has recently announced its partnership with Infocomm Investments Private Limited (IIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, to launch the third edition of ‘Future Starter’ as an accelerator programme on IIPL’s trademark TAG.PASS programme.

Named ‘Income Future Starter, Powered by TAG.PASS’, the partnership is the first by an insurer in Singapore with IIPL to foster entrepreneurship, technology and business innovation in the insurance industry.

The winners of the 2014 and 2015 editions of ‘Future Starter – $100K Challenge’ are Privi and Jaga-Me respectively. The latter connects patients and nursing care professionals via an on-demand, location and service-based matching platform.

Jaga-Me, which dovetails Agency of Integrated Care’s Home-First strategy by making quality home-care accessible to the masses in Singapore, launched its service in March 2016 and is tracking healthy growth in its user and carer base.

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Privi, on the other hand, has completed prototyping, user validation and small-batch production testing of its proprietary technology that delivers a drug-free solution for haemorrhoids sufferers and is scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2017.

‘Income Future Starter, Powered by TAG.PASS’ aims to shortlist 12 startups from around the world with a unique business and technology proposition or have the potential to collaboratively disrupt the insurance industry.

The selected entrepreneurs will be hosted at and exposed to intensive mentoring within a highly conducive tech-powerhouse environment at BASH (Build Amazing Startups Here), Singapore’s largest startup space, during the 11-week accelerator programme.

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Application to the accelerator programme begins today and will close on 9 October 2016. Startups are encouraged to participate in the accelerator by submitting an online application to http://ift.tt/2arNpAd.

Alternatively, startups can attend recruitment roadshows in Singapore, Taiwan and Korea to find out more and register their interest.

Each shortlisted startup will receive a S$28,000 (US$20,895) equity-free entrepreneur grant in addition to mentorship from relevant specialists who will offer deep domain expertise and industry insights as part of the accelerator’s structured curriculum.

Participants can expect intensive coaching to help them up-skill their tech and business know-how, as well as dedicated support from the Income team, including access to senior management and the opportunity to plug into Income’s ecosystem.

Networking opportunities to meet like-minded entrepreneurs to build rapport and exchange ideas and experiences will also be available.

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The first batch of selected startups for ‘Income Future Starter, Powered by TAG.PASS’ is set to be announced in November 2016 and the accelerator will kick-start in January 2017, culminating in a Demo Day in March 2017.

“Startups are the bedrock of innovation. They create value from knowledge, whether new or existing, and in any industry sector. With Income as a strong partner taking this concerted step forward, they are accelerating their co-innovation efforts with start-ups to bring about innovation to the insurance industry. The six areas of focus that Income has identified are potentially where startups can plug their product/service for a product-market-fit,” said Dr Alex Lin, Head of IIPL, in a press statement.

Established in 1970, Income had over S$32.4 billion (US$24.18 billion) in assets under management in 2015, with two million customers under its care.

Founded in 1996, IIPL manages a fund size of more than US$200 million.

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