Last week, Foxmont was thrilled to be part of IGNITE Philippines. This year’s theme “AI Unleashed: The New Era of Innovation” delved into the ways in which AI is changing the startup landscape. The event was filled with exciting panels, startup pitches, fireside chats, and exhibitions. Foxmont was lucky to be part of this year’s event as a judge and a moderator.
Managing Partner, Franco Varona, spoke along side Ikuo Hiraishi about the startup landscape in the Philippines and Japan. Check out some key takeaways from the discussion:
📈 While the Philippine startup ecosystem has a long way to go before reaching the maturity of Japan, the past five years have shown significant growth.
🌍 Japan heavily relies on domestic investors, while the Philippine startup ecosystem is propelled by international and regional investors, as illustrated by MUFG's latest investment in GCash.
🚀 The release of the iPhone marked the dawn of the third generation of the startup ecosystem, driving rapid innovation and reshaping industries. Now, with AI at the forefront, we’re on the cusp of the fourth generation—another era of progress and possibility.
Foxmont also helped judge the Wildfire Pitch Competition, in collaboration with Startup World Cup, alongside Jojo Flores of Plug and Play Tech Center, William "Billy" Valtos Jr of UnionBank of the Philippines, Nat W. of Grab Philippines and Findicate.
We are always happy to be part of events that encourage ecosystem growth, especially when collaborating with an advanced country like Japan, where there’s so much we can learn and exchange.
Thank you to TechShake for including us in this event: Kotaro A., Paolo Dominic Rentero, Fatima Yambao, Riane Louise Abundo, Alaine Nakagawa, and the rest of the team!
#IGNITE2024 #startups #PHStartupecosystem #innovation #venturecapital
