Empowering NUS alumni to build deep tech start-ups

You may be a mid-career professional who has dreams of making a bigger impact by starting a deep-tech business. Or you could be an entrepreneur who is seeking new horizons.

Good news if you are NUS alumni. The funding and the proven deep tech venture creation framework offered by the NUS Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP) has been extended to alumni.

Under GRIP, participating teams benefit from a series of workshops, mentorships, industry linkages and incubation support over one year to develop commercially viable and investible deep tech start-ups. In March 2024, NUS announced that it will boost funding support from $100,000 to $250,000 for start-ups demonstrating high commercial potential, to accelerate their growth.

It is part of a larger $20 million investment from NUS to turn deep-tech research into market solutions, where $10 million will go towards GRIP while another $10 million will be used to create the new Innovation Fellowship and Venture Creation Awards.

EXCEPTIONAL MID-LIFE ENTREPRENEURS

On the move to extend GRIP to NUS alumni, NUS Associate Vice President (Enterprise) Associate Professor Benjamin Tee, who is passionate about nurturing potential entrepreneurs, explained: “Alumni are a critical part of our innovation and enterprise ecosystem. NUS has over 350,000 alumni who are now based all over the world. They are an important extension of our university network, and many of them would have significant resources and their own networks to think about entrepreneurship.”

He added, “We are really looking at mid-career professionals, who are looking beyond a 9-to-5 job and who want the challenge of building something from zero to one.”

What mid-life entrepreneurs bring to the table are years of experience, which translates to an awareness of what comprises a solid business plan, market knowledge, and a strong network that can be a game-changer for business growth. Financial stability and self-awareness mean that they are better able to handle various challenges.

FIRM FOUNDATION

Since 2018, over 500 participants from more than 150 teams have benefited from NUS GRIP, with over $55 million external funding raised. 

The breadth of deep-tech solutions offered by these start-ups include  Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Autonomous Surface Vessels by BeeX that reduce the costs and risks of underwater inspections, and healthier versions of sweet food with a lower glycemic index by Aurora Food.

Mr Kit Yong (Science ’18), a GRIP alumnus who founded Forte Biotech, said, “Without GRIP, it would not have been possible to start this company.” His company deploys patented technology to help prawn farmers, mostly in Vietnam, to easily diagnose if their prawns are sick and take quick remedial action to treat them and prevent them from dying.

In addition to receiving mentorship from GRIP mentors, who offered valuable business and technical guidance, he also attributed his success in establishing a presence in Vietnam to the credibility associated with the NUS brand.

Said Mr Yong, who hails from a family of entrepreneurs, “If I had tried to do it myself, it would have been hard. But the fact that Forte Biotech was a GRIP team enabled doors to open more easily.” On this note, Prof Tee emphasised: “Alumni who join us will be leveraging a foundation we have laid over five years.”

Participating alumni do not necessarily have to form a team on their own. Based on their ideas and skillsets, they could be matched with other participants who may include post-graduate students and professors to “create a diverse team with diverse skill sets”.

He added, “There's also the idea of engagement. Getting involved in GRIP provides another avenue for alumni to socialise and to become mentors, to contribute back to their alma mater.”

Creating or being part of a deep tech start-up could be a life-changing experience for alumni who are seeking greater meaning.

Prof Tee said, “We talk about deep tech because if successful, it has a very long-lasting impact. We are solving huge challenging problems in areas like climate change and health. Being able to capture more ideas from our alumni really helps to increase the opportunities for social impact.”

Text by Wong Sher Maine. Photos courtesy of NUS GRIP and Kit Yong.