Highlights From the Asia-Pacific Venture Creation Lab

It’s been three weeks since the conclusion of the EPIC Asia-Pacific Venture Creation Labs (VCL). Throughout the VCL, our 10 startup teams learned and practiced the fundamentals of bioentrepreneurship through vocabularies, tools, coaching sessions and weekly deliverables. By the end of the three weeks, the teams presented their final pitches to a panel of expert judges, including Bert Grobben (Budding Innovations), Ernest Xue (Slate Alt), and Eugene Ho (REAPRA PTE). Throughout the VCL, participants were filled with energetic spirits and enthusiasm to continue launching their entrepreneurial journeys.

The Asia Pacific VCL cohort of 2020.

Weekly panel sessions were also hosted to give the VCL participants case-based insights on how to maneuver the entrepreneurial landscape. 

Week 1

Joining us as our first week’s expert, serial entrepreneur Johannes Hille, COO of Singapore-based cancer diagnostics start-up X-ZELL, discussed the process of discovering and defining new startups in the biotech industry. Jo shared his experiences from working with X-ZELL,highlighting the importance of execution over planning when making the leap from ideation to realisation of a venture. Jo emphasized that building a competent team with a culture of transparency, openness and shared values is crucial for a strong startup team dynamic. 

There is no overnight success— anything successful was built years on years to be successful.

- Johannes Hille

Week 2

In the following week of the VCL, teams went on to work on how to develop and deliver their products and services to the market. We were excited to have Dr. Suraj Bhansali join as our expert panelist for the week. Dr. Bhansali is the Global Head of pharma data digitization analysis at Excelra, with plenty of experience in dealing with drug pharmacology and new startup innovation. One of the main takeaways from his talk is that startups need to be RAP: Resilient, to recover quickly from difficulties; Adaptable with the environment; Persistent in working towards their goals. 

You don’t have to make every single mistake of yourself, but do learn from others’ mistakes and experiences

- Suraj Bhansali

Week 3

By the end of the second week, the VCL startup teams had developed their unique value proposition, market analysis and business development roadmap. The final stage lined up for the teams was the “demonstration” week where they prepared their company pitches for the VCL demo day. Ernest Xue, CEO of the private investment company Slate Alt, joined us as the expert panelist of the week. Ernest gave the teams a look into an avid investor's perspective, specifically on what investors usually look for during a pitch. In building a startup, the vision the entrepreneurs share should be stunning, well-planned disruptive approaches must be proposed, and most importantly, a venture capitalist always looks for a great team that is not only passionate for success but also humble and realistic.

A startup needs to have the ability in execution, overcoming obstacles, and a quick plan for market strategy. Better to have a great team but a poor product rather than the opposite.

- Ernest Xue

Final Demo Day

The VCL wrapped up with a Demo Day where the 10 startup teams presented the culmination of their work from the VCL. The teams got the chance to compete for four awards - The Investors’ Choice; the Audiences’ Choice; Best in Sustainability Award; the Most Improved Award.

To help address the issue of child stunting in rural areas of Indonesia, the BALITA Team, composed of alumni from iGEM HKUST, came up with the idea of making biofortified tempeh that increases the level of nutrients in food using synthetic biology. The team aspires to have a local impact in Southeast Asia where two of the team members grew up. With their enthusiastic and comprehensive pitch, BALITA swept up two of the VCL prizes: the “Investors' Choice” and the “Audiences’ Choice” award.

The VCL gave a really good structure in terms of thinking how to build a roadmap for a startup systematically.

- Team BALITA

"All great entrepreneurs start young" - this statement best describes the SHUI team, formed of alumni of iGEM BNSF_China 2019. The only High School team in the programme, they wanted to give a shot at creating a startup through the VCL. They went into the program with nothing but an initial idea, which was then developed through the guidance of EPIC coaches and their own hard work into a solid business case. The eagerness of these high school entrepreneurs set them on the path of developing a water purification system to filter nanoparticulates using biofilms. With a keen desire to enable access to clean water and sanitation, the SHUI team did an excellent job of addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and hence won the “Best in Sustainability” award. 

Do not fear to interact with the VCL teams or mentors, they are the place to receive feedback, learn professional pieces of knowledge, and share experiences.

- Tean SHUI

Our last award’s winning team was comprised of four undergraduates from the University of AucklandThrough their great teamwork, the Auckland team was able to turn an unexplored path into an undiscovered treasure and developed Algessie to optimize omega-3 production in microalgae. They won the “Most Improved Team” award for showcasing the most improvement of all teams throughout the 3 weeks of the VCL.

VCL Coaching sessions gave us resourceful mentors. Instead of shooting down our ideas, they gave us a lot of new alternatives to try.

- Team Algessie

Finally, thank you to all the teams, speakers and guests for sharing your insightful knowledge in the Asia-Pacific VCL! To learn more about the next year's VCL or EPIC program, please contact will@igem.org or albert@igem.org. Follow us on our social media pages (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter) to stay tuned for our upcoming activities!

The VCL is just the beginning of the journey - anyone interested in bioentrepreneurship is invited to join the Americas' Expert Panel, where we continue to host key opinion leaders in the SynBio arena. The next sessions are on June 19th and June 26th, 2020 from 5 to 6 PM PST. Click here to register and we hope to see you there!

- Meghiya Michelle | APAC Media & Outreach