Huawei plans to invest US$100 million to support the regional start-up ecosystem over the next three years.
The company, which is already supporting start-ups via its hubs in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand, aims to expand its reach to Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam as well.
It is hoping to sign up 1,000 start-ups, announced the company at the Spark Founders Summit on Aug 3.
"We all know how brilliant start-ups and SMEs are. They are the innovators, disruptors, and pioneers of our times,” says Huawei’s senior vice president and board member Catherine Chen.
She notes that start-ups account for two-thirds of jobs worldwide, create two-thirds of new jobs, and generate almost 50% of global GDP.
“34 years ago, Huawei was a start-up with just 5,000 dollars of registered capital,” she says. “We are fully aware of the hardships start-ups go through to survive and thrive.”
Last year, the company’s revenue was nearly RMB900 billion.
Better known for its networking equipment early in the company’s early years, it has grown and diversified to become a leading name in mobile networking, mobile devices, cloud computing and ICT infrastructure services.
See also: Huawei Ecosystem Summit 2021 aims to help businesses transform with growth
Chen hopes to extend Huawei’s experience and resources to help start-ups grow. One way it is doing so is to let them tap on Huawei’s ICT services and ecosystem.
To this end, on Aug 3, Huawei announced the launch of its Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Program, building on the Huawei Cloud platform launched in 2017.
Huawei Cloud is now the second-largest player of its kind in China and fifth-largest worldwide in the infrastructure-as-a-service market.
The company is stepping up the support for the start-ups via four new initiatives, aimed at cloud-plus-cloud collaboration, continuous tech innovation, global and local services, and high-quality business ecosystems, says Zhang Ping'an, CEO of Huawei's Cloud Business Unit.
The point on having the ecosystem work closely together was also made by Dr Lim Jui, CEO of SGInnovate.
"The true impact of the Deep Tech Economy is realized when we're able to come together to catalyze new opportunities. Working alongside partners like Huawei enables us to accomplish our mission of supporting promising talent and emerging tech start-ups in Singapore,” he says.
