Cebu City – The fourth Startup Weekend Cebu (SWCEBU4) held last June 6 to 8 at the University of Cebu(UC)-Banilad Campus came off as a big success as participating tech and business expert dished out more confident pitches and better tech startup ideas.
“We have been doing this for 4 years and it is great to see how the startups showcased in Startup Weekend Cebu just keep getting better and better,” said TechTalks.ph founder Tina Amper.
Startup Weekend is a 54-hour event which begins with participants pitching concepts for startups or fast-growing Internet-based businesses set up by entrepreneurs.
Participants then form teams to fashion these ideas into viable products in the course of the event before being presented to a panel of judges on the last night.
First started in the U.S., the Startup Weekends in Cebu is organized locally by TechTalks.ph, a non-profit organization providing training and networking for local tech entrepreneurs and startups.
“We believe in local talent. The overflowing of startup ideas in this year’s Startup Weekend Cebu is a demonstration that Filipinos and Cebuanos in particular can be globally competitive and play a vital role in expanding the economy,” said Amper.
Organized with the aim of empowering tech entrepreneurs to nurture their startup ideas to become successful businesses, SWCEBU4 had a total of 17 teams each developing a distinct startup concept.
The SWCEBU4’s winning startups is led by first placer GigBox, an online scheduling system for band events and venues in Cebu. The concept forGigbox arose as a solution to a Cebu-based bar owner’s problem with a band that cancelled their gig at the last minute.
Likha, the second winning startup team, is a web-based shirt printing platform. Likha users can browse for unique and cool designs, create and submit their own art shirts, and at the same time have the opportunity to earn from their designs.
And JustBecause, the third winning entry, is an event listing website that sends SMS notifications of upcoming events to subscribers even when they are offline. The name JustBecause is from the tagline “just because you are offline doesn’t mean you can’t get updated about events.”
Part of the winning team’s prizes included enrolment in the CebuinIT or Cebu Business Incubator for IT, a DOST-UP Cebu TBI Project, Arcanys mentorship program, and serviced conference room usage by Global Hub Serviced Offices, in order to cultivate GigBox into a business. They also received 1 free ticket and deep discounts for this August’s Geeks on a Beach national startup confab.
Other notable startup ideas presented during the event include Rebit, a bitcoin-based online remittance provider; Cobill, an online bills payment and management system; Youteach, a net-based teaching platform for language and alternate courses; and SproutBooth, a fun app that lets you play with photos to make memes.
This year’s Startup Weekend Cebu judges were Caresharing Co-Founder Mark Buenconsejo, Symph Founder Dave Overton, engageSPARK Founder Ravi Agarwal, Synacy CEO Rhett Jones, NCR Cebu Development Center Managing Director Jaideep Agrawal, and Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Tess Chan.
The CCCI is an organizational partner of SWCEBU4, which is one of the highlights of this year’s Cebu Business Month (CBM).
Startup Weekend Cebu 4 is presented by TechTalks.ph in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO). It was also made possible by venue partner UC-Banilad and the institutional partner CebuinIT.
The Platinum Sponsors are Kickstart and Globe Labs, the Gold Sponsors are Synacy, Airbnb, Offshore Consultancy and Business Services, Pinopi.com, The Lemon Collective, and Arcanys while the Silver Sponsors are Global Hub, NCR and PRWorks.
The Media Sponsors are, Asian Journal Publications, Balikbayan, iNewMedia.org, Istorya.net, Third Team Media, InnoPub, Zero Three Two, and Rappler.com.