SGV & Co., a member firm of Ernst & Young (EY) Global Ltd., has announced the winning start-up participants accepted into EY’s “Foundry Cohort 5” (EY Foundry).
The accounting firm explained in a statement that since 2018, EY Foundry has been helping early-stage tech startups accelerate business growth through piloting and scaling activities with the EY organization, in particular its “tax, law and people advisory services” teams.
EY Foundry helps start-ups to connect and network, with a focus on generating internal traction for the start-ups. Over the past four years, the EY Foundry program has incubated four cohorts, a total of 22 start-ups, facilitated product demonstrations to the EY organization and enterprise teams and technology pilots within the global EY network.
The EY Foundry program will be run virtually and will include start-ups across Asia-Pacific including Australia, Cambodia, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The EY Foundry received a record number of applicants for the program, going from strength to strength in supporting start-ups across Asia-Pacific and the global EY network. It has been focused on increasing support for women-led enterprises and this year eight out of the 16 start-ups are founded by women entrepreneurs, increasing the average across its five cohorts to 46 percent, more than double the global average.
The 16 start-ups in this year’s program were chosen based on their ability to provide disruptive technologies and solutions across the following areas of innovation: services of tomorrow; new enterprise; sustainability; and, people and wellness.
Beginning in July 2022 and for a period of six months, the start-ups in Cohort 5 will participate in a range of activities that will give participants the tools to accelerate growth and expand their customer base. Participants will also receive Microsoft Azure credits worth $150,000 to help develop their technology stack.
In addition, they will gain exposure to a wealth of industry knowledge and experience, including access to EY industry insights, subject matter professionals and technology collaborators. The EY Foundry program takes no equity stake, with participating startups maintaining full ownership and control of the business.
Fabian K. Delos Santos, head of tax services at SGV & Co., said he is “delighted” that there are two Philippine startups that made it as part of Cohort 5 of this year’s EY Foundry program.
“Helping startups accelerate business growth through piloting and scaling activities with the EY organization can significantly contribute in making the business world better,” Delos Santos added. “EY Foundry can be an avenue to connect and network with a focus on generating internal traction for the startups in which they will gain significant exposure to various EY industry insights, subject matter professionals and technology collaborators.”
“The EY Foundry is going from strength to strength, growing to 11 countries across Asia-Pacific and attracting the highest number of applicants we’ve seen since the program’s inception,” EY Asia-Pacific Deputy Tax Leader Ian McNeill said. “It is therefore only natural that we now have our largest cohort to date. We’re looking forward to welcoming the startups into the program and working with them to collaborate and tackle EY clients’ most complex problems.”