NUS Venture Initiation Programme

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NUS Venture Initiation Programme

NUS Venture Initiation Programme

Turn Your Idea Into Reality

The NUS Venture Initiation Programme (VIP) is an initiative by NUS Enterprise to fund entrepreneurial pursuits of innovative ideas (“Projects”) by NUS students or Alumni with an award of up to S$10,000 for a 12-month term. Please refer to “Application and Enquiry” section for details on the next application period.

For initiatives that are focused on Environment, Social or Sustainability-related issues, please apply via the VIP-Impact Track which is on a similar timeline but with a separate application process. For more information, visit the VIP-Impact page

Benefits of the NUS Venture Initiation Programme

An award of up to S$10,000
No financial self-contribution necessary
Up to 12 months to complete the project
Access to NUS Enterprise entrepreneurial eco-system
Opportunities to network with other start-up companies
Co-working or hot-desking spaces (subject to availability and approval)
Mentoring and guidance for NUS students (subject to availability of mentors)
Opportunities to attend selected talks, seminars, webinars and events

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must be NUS student(s) or alumni (”NUS Affiliated Applicant”).
For SoC students - The main applicant must remain a student during the 1-year duration of the grant.
The project must be innovative, address an existing market need, and have potential to scale.
The project must not have obtained funding from any external party, including but not limited to government bodies, angel investors and/or venture capital funds.

Application Process and Selection Criteria

The person submitting the VIP application must be an NUS Affiliated Applicant ("Applicant")
Applicants must fill in the VIP Application Form (see "Application and Enquiry" section below), and submit their pitch deck for review. Applicants must comply with the following instructions pertaining to pitch decks.
1. Be uploaded on Dropbox, with the link included in the VIP Application Form.
2. Must not exceed 7 slides (inclusive of the cover slide), otherwise the application will be rejected.
3. Begin with a cover slide with a one-liner description of the Project, and should include the following in bullet points, which is also the criteria which the Project will be evaluated on (“Selection Criteria”):

- Unique Selling Proposition & Key Technical Innovation What is innovative about your Project? What compelling benefits do you offer that are currently not being offered in the market? What is your “secret sauce” (e.g. team, relationships, intellectual property, new insights, domain expertise etc)?
- Potential Addressable Market What is your target customer, industry, market? What research have you done regarding your potential market and customers? What ideas/strategies do you have to capture the above?
- Competitive Analysis Who are your current and potential competitors? How do you differ from them? Are there any barriers to entry? What competitive advantages do you have?
- Team Elaborate on each of the team member’s background (academically and professionally). What are the previous accomplishments of the team? How will the team work together and contribute to the Project? Are there any missing pieces to the team? Include details on first employees as well (if there are any).
- Validation Has the team done any validation to date? If so, what kind of validation has been done? If not, what kind of validation will the team do and the outcome which is to be achieved from the validation?
- Milestones and usage of VIP AwardWhat are the milestones for the first 6 months and the following 6 months thereafter? Please include a breakdown of how funds from the VIP Award will be used in line with the proposed milestones (e.g. spend how much on what and for what purpose).

Applicants may include a video if they feel a demo would aid in our understanding of the start-up. Applicants must comply with the following instructions pertaining to videos. Please do not feel compelled to include a video just for the sake of it. Videos should only be used to demonstrate the applicant’s product/service (when necessary) and not as a pitching tool. We urge applicants to exercise their discretion in this regard, as we will not take into consideration the video (or lack thereof) when assessing the start-up.

1. Be uploaded on Dropbox, with the link included in the VIP Application Form.
2. Must not be more than 3 minutes, otherwise the application will be rejected. This applies even if the start-up has not exceeded the slide limit for the pitch deck.

Applicants must read and agree to the terms and conditions of the Personal Data Protection Notice by NUS Enterprise.

Selection Process and Administration of VIP

The Officers-in-Charge of VIP will evaluate and shortlist the applicants based on the Selection Criteria, and the selected applicants will then pitch before a panel determined by NUS Enterprise ("pitching session").
Applicants who are awarded the VIP (“Awardees”) have to agree to sign and return the VIP Acceptance Form to NUS Enterprise in order to receive the VIP Award.
Upon receiving the Submission Documents and signed VIP Acceptance Form from the Awardee, the first 6 months will commence, and NUS Enterprise will release the VIP Award to the Awardee during this period.
Upon reaching the Midpoint (i.e. end of the first 6 months), the team is required to present and/or submit a comprehensive report to NUS Enterprise or its appointed panel on the progress of the project.
The remaining 6 months will commence after the Midpoint Review. Upon reaching the Endpoint (i.e. the last 6 months), the team is required to present and/or submit a comprehensive report to NUS Enterprise or its appointed panel for the final review.

Note: The schools, faculties and departments offering and administering the VIP award may have additional processes related to their respective groups.

Application and Enquiry