Singapore-based venture capital firm Expara Ventures has launched an accelerator program to support startups fighting the novel coronavirus, the local media reported.
Expara Ventures is now accepting applications for its Expata Virttech Global Accelerator from Singapore-based startups.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Expara Ventures has clarified that no face-to-face interactions will take place and the entire process will be completed online.
According to the VC firm, its areas of interest include solutions for detecting the virus, tools that share information about pandemics, solutions that help protect people and slow down the spread of the virus, and services that can improve life quality and work efficiency during and after global pandemics.
Startups from Singapore have time till April 30 to apply for Expara Ventures’ accelerator programme.
Expara CEO Douglas Abrams said that since the governments and corporates are struggling to deal with the pandemic alone, he wants entrepreneurs and startups to join the global battle against the Covid-19.
Stressing on the damage caused by Covid-19, he said that the pandemic is causing enormous pain and widespread social and economic disruption. He revealed that VC investments in the region will reduce drastically.
Expara Ventures was established by Abrams in 2000. It has a presence in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Poland.
Elsewhere in Asia, a group of Bengaluru-based startups are developing an app and creating technological solutions to help the government track and monitor people in home quarantine and contain the spread of Covid-19.
In the US, Sam Altman, the CEO of artificial intelligence research lab OpenAI recently revealed that he will invest in startups that could quickly produce a lot of ventilators, masks or gowns, screening existing drugs for effectiveness, novel approaches to vaccines, and new therapeutics that big pharma companies are unlikely to develop.