Dentsu Aegis launched Demo Day alongside Google this month, the final part of its two-month Female Foundry accelerator programme.
The initiative, first announced in June as a fund to help female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia, culminated in an event co-hosted by Google in Singapore and spotlighted eight female founders that took part in the event.
These startups presented in order to connect with and secure a possible second round of funding from a panel of five venture capitalists: Dentsu Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures, NSI Ventures, Seed Plus and TNF Ventures.
Pedro Ao, senior manager of Dentsu Ventures, said: “From Thailand, India to Singapore, this is the first time we’ve seen a demo day that has brought together female-founded startups from all across the region, which saw many intelligent, creative and tech-savvy women coming forward to pursue their dreams. Not only did they bring functional and innovative ideas, the energy and drive that they have displayed is truly inspiring.”
The initiative is spearheaded by Ruth Stubbs, former APAC lead for iProspect who was recently given the global CEO role. Over the two months there was a bootcamp in which the right finalist founders were selected, followed by a round of mentoring from people within the Dentsu business on topics such as digital, marketing and finance.
