Trive Ventures Launches Government-Backed Blockchain Accelerator in Singapore

Trive Ventures, a Southeast Asia-focused venture capital firm, is launching Tribe Accelerator, a government-backed blockchain accelerator focused on product development in Singapore, Tech in Asia reported on December 4, 2018.

Singapore’s Lead Government Agency Backs Trive Venture’s New Project

It seems that Singapore has yet again proven that it’s one of the most blockchain-friendly global tech hubs, as another large financial firm has decided to expand into the lucrative industry.

Trive Ventures, previously known as Tri5 Ventures, is launching a blockchain accelerator focused on product development. The Singapore-based company is supported by Enterprise Singapore, the lead government agency responsible for developing the city’s startup ecosystem.

According to Tech in Asia, the Tribe Accelerator is a six-month acceleration program held in Singapore that will target later-stage startups globally. The program will help the participants focus on product development and drive the mass adoption of blockchain technology in cities around the world.

Initially, only eight startups will be able to join the accelerator program, which will provide them with access to mentors, technical support, as well as an international network of technical talent and potential business partners.

According to the company’s website, the Tribe Accelerator aims to “to generate greater public awareness of the benefits and relevance in the everyday use of distributed ledger technology through the usage of decentralized applications (dApps) or backend digital solutions.”

Major Blockchain Companies Participating in the Accelerator

In addition to receiving support from Enterprise Singapore, Tribe Accelerator is also teaming up with accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Singapore Digital Hub and South Korean blockchain network Icon Foundation.

The Icon blockchain foundation has significant experience in backing similar projects. The foundation partnered with Trive back in May 2018 to co-develop blockchain courses for the company’s programming schools, Upcode Academy Singapore and Coder School Vietnam.

Icon will serve as a technical partner to the Tribe Accelerator, helping the incubated startups translate their blockchain concepts into tangible products.

The Tribe Accelerator won’t officially launch until the first quarter of 2019 when it will kick off its six-month program with an invite-only launch event for its incubated companies. Once the program begins, the startups will join a global demo tour across Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, among other destinations, to showcase and market test their projects.

The tour will allow startups to rigorously test their solutions in real-world market conditions and exchange practices and ideas with similar startups in other markets.

“With the support of Enterprise Singapore, we want startups incubated under Tribe Accelerator to become success stories at the front of Singapore’s changing business landscape,” Yi Ming Ng, a partner at Trive, said.