Opening Remarks by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan at Startups Converge 2026

Distinguished guests, 

Ladies and gentlemen,   

Introduction 

1 Good morning, everybody. I wasn’t warmed up yet — I thought I had some time. But I’m very happy to be here with many good friends and familiar faces to celebrate Slingshot’s 10th anniversary. 

2 When Enterprise Singapore launched Slingshot about 10 years ago, the goal was to find the most innovative start-ups globally and help them scale from Singapore. 

3 And 10 years ago, the world was very different. Usually, when I speak at milestone events like this, I try to be a little cheeky and look back at what was happening then. So, join me for a moment and think about where you were 10 years ago. 

4 In 2016, the world was rather different. Barack Obama was in his final year of the presidency, and the geopolitical situation was very different from what we are experiencing today. Xi Jinping was already President, Mr Lee Hsien Loong was our Prime Minister, and if you were a music fan, Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself was topping the charts. 

5 If you were a Marvel fan, Captain America: Civil War was a hit movie, and Stranger Things had just started. 

6 In sports — this year is a World Cup year, and for some reason I thought 2016 was too, but it wasn’t — football still experienced another miracle. Arsenal winning recently after 22 years was quite a miracle, though I’m not an Arsenal fan — I see some groans here. But Leicester City winning the Premier League in 2016, with odds of 5,000 to 1 — if you had put money on Leicester City then, you could probably help fund your start-up today.  

7 And Cristiano Ronaldo — to be precise, who just won the Saudi Arabian League yesterday or the day before — was still playing for Portugal as they lifted the UEFA Euro 2016 trophy. 

8 Going to the tech world, the global giants were Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook. In fact, I think in 2016 I was still working at Facebook — it was still called Facebook then. And Apple made headlines that year. Can anyone remember why? They removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, and everybody couldn’t get used to it. “What do I do now?” and all that. 

9 But this morning, as we look back, I thought it would also be good to take stock of where we are today, and think about where we want to go in the next 10 years 

Part 1: The Sling was Drawn - Our Startup Scene 10 Years Ago  

10 First, SLINGSHOT, in 2017 our startup ecosystem was still finding its rhythm. When SLINGSHOT held its very first edition, it received 1,700 applications. It was a good start, but our community was much smaller at that time.  Funding was harder to find- though, it still is now- and deep tech was a concept that most people were still trying to define.  

11 In 2017, the companies we now consider regional giants were still early-stage businesses fighting to prove their models. Carousell and ShopBack were just starting to scale up and convince the public that mobile marketplaces and online cashback were the future.  

12 Gillian Tee was launching Homage with a small, personal mission to use technology to provide better care for our seniors. And the founders of Thunes were starting to build a network to solve the complex world of cross-border payments.  

13 In 2017, just as some people were making foolhardy bets on Leicester City, these were brave, uncertain bets. In many ways, we were drawing, pulling back the slingshot—building the tension, gathering the energy, and preparing the foundations, without knowing exactly how far the stone would fly.  

Part 2: Rocketing Forward – Where We Stand Today  

14 Ten years later today, the sling has been released.  Our startups have largely shot forward, and the transformation is remarkable.  

15 If you look at the  same companies I spoke about earlier today,  Homage is now a major regional healthtech player, operating across Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia with thousands of care professionals. Thunes has become a global payments powerhouse, moving billions of dollars across more than 130 countries. Carousell and ShopBack are household names across Southeast Asia.  

16 Our startup scene has also matured. We have moved from consumer apps to pioneering deep tech. Today, we have Singapore-grown companies like Transcelestial who are using lasers to deliver high-speed internet from space, and Matwerkz Technologies—our SLINGSHOT Grand Winner from two years ago—redefining advanced thermal management materials.  

17 Our global standing reflects this growth. In the latest StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026, Singapore continues to rank 4^th globally. It is difficult to hold this spot, particularly because many cities in the world are also building and investing billions to build up their start-up ecosystem, and it shows that we have something going with us.  

18 The Singapore Venture Funding Landscape 2025 report—which we are launching today with Enterprise Singapore and EY-Parthenon confirms that this momentum is on-going. But I have read the report, and I think all of us know this well-  Global funding is becoming more selective. There is much that we can do, but there are some bright sparks. Our AI sector is booming, and deal value jumped 28% to US$1.4 billion last year. Deep tech funding also doubled  its share of overall deal value from 14% to 24%, in just one year. FinTech- and I get to serve in the Singapore FinTech Association-  continues to lead the region, drawing in nearly three-quarters of all FinTech funding across Southeast Asia.  

19 But while we can take some comfort in how far we have come, there are still challenges ahead, and we are not standing still.  I believe we still need some public sector support to play a stabilising role.  

Part 3: Propelling the Next Decade – How We Boost The Ecosystem  

20 Two weeks ago, we released the final recommendations of the Economic Strategy Review (ESR) to secure Singapore’s growth and create great jobs in a fast-changing world. Two of my colleagues involved in that effort are here today- Ervin from CapitaLand and Arrif. They are both here today, and together with many of you, they were very critical in providing inputs to the Economic Strategy Review, particularly as we focused on the start-up ecosystem. Because at the heart of our strategy is to continue to build this startup ecosystem for Singapore.   

21 And we laid out three clear ways to help startups build, to help start-ups grow, and to help start-ups win. Let me just unpack this a little bit.   

i. First, we have laid out the plans to help h-potential startups scale fast. For deep tech startups that need serious runway, we topped up the Startup SG Equity scheme by 1 billion dollars this year to fuel your growth stages. We are also opening new pathways to global capital. If you followed Parliament, we recently passed new laws so companies can now list on SGX and Nasdaq concurrently using a single set of documents, giving you direct access to global investors. We have also committed $37 billion under RIE2030 for research, innovation and enterprise, and topped up our Anchor Fund with a second tranche of $1.5 billion to attract high-quality listings here. And given the AI boom, we are also investing over $1 billion under our National AI Strategy. But when you think about the AI boom, and such investments, it is really about building a broader ecosystem- with AI Champions, national AI Missions, and even the Prime Minister who is chairing the National AI Council.  So that’s the first part.  

ii. The second part of the plans we have laid out is about keeping the momentum going, and that means inspiring the next generation of builders. I spend quite a lot of time speaking to our interns, and I hope whether you are from SMU, NTU, NUS, or wherever you are, more of you will take that leap. We are encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset from young, equipping aspiring founders with the tools to test their  ideas, and build open spaces where founders can come together  and collaborate.  

iii. Third, we are also expanding our global partnerships, because many of you do not come to Singapore just because of the market here. You come here because Singapore connects you to the world. Therefore, I am thrilled to announce that NVIDIA's Inception Grand Challenge is launching in Singapore for the first time, giving promising AI startups a direct route into the SLINGSHOT network. 

Conclusion 

22 Applications for SLINGSHOT 2026 are open until 30 June, and registration for SWITCH 2026 is open beginning today. Finalists will pitch live on stage at SWITCH this October. If you have a breakthrough solution, this is your platform to shine.  

23 Ten years ago, we drew back the slingshot. Today, the theme of our event is 'Rise and Shine'. In many ways, our startup ecosystem and startup platforms have nowbeen launched, and they are  ready to rise to new heights and shine on the global stage.   

24 I hope all of you know today that the Government is behind you. We will do our best, we will continue to get your feedback, and I mentioned to both Ervin and Arrif, and the team, that even though we have finished this phase of work, we are still going to continue working together. So if you have new ideas that you think can help strengthen this ecosystem, please let us know. Even though we are small, we have always punched above our weight.  

25 So thank you very much. Let us continue working together to build this ecosystem, and congratulations once again to the SLINGSHOT team on 10 years. Thank you.