Emy Ruth Gianan, News, Communication Management Office
Rock Cleo, an alumnus of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, is part of the team who won second place in the Startup Weekend Manila Competition held last July 26-28 at Acceler8 by UnionSPACE, Makati City. Cleo’s team also won Best in Design and Execution in the same competition that sought to gather the best local talent to launch a startup over the course of 54 intense hours. The theme for this year’s competition is Tech4Good. Participants were challenged with creating a tech-focused solution that ultimately addressed one of the major issues or problems facing the Philippines.
Cleo’s winning startup is called Gigben, a platform for freelancer benefits. The team is comprised of founder Maria Carla Mumar, teammates Monica Gonzales, MK Bertulfo, Gary Viray, Ichiyo Eustaquio, and Angelo Timothy Dawa. Other winning startups include a personal finance app called Breeze, which won first place; and Commune, a crowdfunding solution for cooperatives, which won third place.
During the competition, participants were tasked with assembling into teams of co-founders, validating their business idea, and even creating a prototype. The co-founding teams then presented a final presentation on Sunday, where they were judged by a panel of leaders from the startup community. The final pitches were aired on Kumu, a livestreaming and content platform that is in of itself one of the most successful tech companies in the Philippines. Its CEO and co-founder Roland Ros, who served as one of the judges, was impressed by the quality of solutions.
“The startups at Startup Weekend Manila were all very promising in how they proposed tackling different social issues. When they are ready, I welcome them to share their advocacy on Kumu, just as many other entrepreneurs already are. The country needs a more lively discussion on how tech-enabled businesses can serve the social good,” said Ros, who returned to the Philippines from the United States to create Kumu.
The winners find themselves in good company. Many of the startups formed from Startup Weekend have gone on to be very successful tech companies, including dish discovery app Foodspotting (US$10 million acquisition), subscription box service Loot Crate (US$100 million valuation), and pet care services platform Rover.com ($970 million valuation), among many others.
The grand prize winners were given copies of The Finishers, which may provide them with examples closer to home to aspire to. Authored by journalist and Ambidextr managing partner Ezra Ferraz, the book documented the stories of the most successful technopreneurs in the Philippines, including Chito Bustamante and Dennis Mendiola of Chikka, RJ and Arianne David of Sulit, and Jay Fajardo of Airborne Access, all of whom - like the winners at Startup Weekend Manila - started only with an idea and a dream.
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