AppWorks Accelerator
Turbocharging Top Founders since 2010
AppWorks Accelerator
What happens during the Accelerator?
AppWorks Community
How Will It Help My Fundraising?
Ready to Apply?
AppWorks Accelerator
Why join?
Every six months, we invite only the most driven, strategic-minded, and fastest-moving founders working on AI, web3, or scaling their businesses across Southeast Asia to join AppWorks Accelerator.
Upon onboarding into the program, you are immediately immersed in a vibrant community of equally ambitious founders. Your 70 batchmates, our 100 mentors, and over 1,700 strong alumni founders, the AppWorks Team and our Masters are all here to help you take your startup to the next level and accelerate your development as a founder.
Our accelerator is designed to meet your unique needs, offering personalized mentorship and connections to key strategic partners and investors to elevate both your personal and business growth, whether you’re an early-stage startup refining your product or a growth-stage company ready to scale.
On our Demo Days hosted in Taipei, Singapore and Jakarta, you’ll have the chance to pitch your startup to hundreds of carefully selected investors and potential business partners, offering extended opportunities to build meaningful partnerships. There is no better way to get connected and build partnerships.
Best of all, joining is completely free – we don’t take equity, tokens, or charge any service fees. Join us and take the next step on your journey to long-term success!
Achieve Better Product-Market Fit, Win Key Business Partners, and Become a Better Founder
A small team working out of a garage is no longer the most efficient way to build a startup. It’s difficult for an AI startup to stay up-to-date on the latest algorithm and base model breakthroughs; for a web3 startup to keep up with projects popping up left and right in the crypto world; or for an aspiring Southeast Asian tech company to understand the ins and outs of each local market. You simply can’t do it alone.
Building a startup within an accelerator, alongside a group of equally brilliant and driven founders from diverse backgrounds solving a wide range of problems and comparing notes with each other, is a much more effective way to improve your chances of making a big impact in today’s ever-changing landscape.
Why AI, web3 and SEA?
AI
The proliferation of AI, particularly Generative AI, is reshaping industries across the globe. With increasingly sophisticated base models, vast data availability, and open-source tools, startups now have unprecedented opportunities to apply AI across sectors like healthcare, retail, entertainment, and more. For founders building AI+IoT startups, Taiwan provides a unique advantage with its mature and advanced ecosystem, encompassing top-tier R&D talent, robust manufacturing capabilities, and a highly integrated supply chain.
We believe there is a unique window in the next few years for founders to launch AI startups that will disrupt traditional business models. AppWorks is committed to helping founders capture these opportunities and revolutionize existing industries, pushing the limits of what is possible with this rapidly evolving technology.
web3 (applications and infrastructure via protocols, companies, or DAOs)
Driven by a strong belief in the positive impact that web3 protocols, companies, and DAOs can bring to society, AppWorks has been dedicated to supporting blockchain founders since 2017. From finance to commerce to entertainment, the established power structures and organizational dynamics are poised for disruption as blockchain-based smart contracts gain wider acceptance in fostering trust among strangers, minimizing the need for a trusted centralized middleman. As web3 steadily gains mainstream adoption over the next decade, we invite founders who share our vision, possess a thirst for learning, and are committed to relentless hard work. Together at AppWorks, we can collaborate, learn from one another, and collectively forge a path to shape a profoundly impactful decentralized future.
Southeast Asia
Over the past few years, Southeast Asia has evolved into one of the world’s most dynamic and vibrant digital economies bursting with opportunities for founders. With a population nearing 700 million, the region is experiencing a demographic shift driven by a growing middle class, rising affluence, and increasing consumer sophistication. This, coupled with accelerated digital adoption, is fueling robust macroeconomic growth. Southeast Asia now boasts over 50 unicorns in Southeast Asia and several publicly-listed companies including Sea Group, Grab, GoTo, Bukalapak, and 17LIVE the latest. As digital technologies continue to penetrate traditional industries, many more high-growth startups are poised to follow in their footsteps, making Southeast Asia a fertile ground for innovation and entrepreneurship.
As a first-time founder back in 2011, joining AppWorks has been a precious journey filled with invaluable experiences. At its core, the ethos of "by founders, for founders" is not just a slogan but a guiding principle that permeates every aspect of the program and the AppWorks founder network. The emphasis on peer learning with many talented and dedicated fellow founders and mentorship with a plethora of successful serial entrepreneurs within the AppWorks ecosystem has been instrumental in shaping my entrepreneurial mindset and approach. 'If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.' Here, AppWorks and all fellow founders go together with you!
Davidd Liu,
Co-founder & CEO of CHOCO TV, (AW#2) and CEO of WeMo Scooter (AW#12)
What Happens During the Accelerator?
Expand Your Founder Ecosystem
- Forge life-long relationships with 70 like-minded founders in your batch.
- An alumni network of more than 1,700 founders in various verticals, at various stages, and coming from different walks of life – all of whom are willing to lend a hand or an ear because you’re a part of AppWorks.
- Receive personalized guidance from mentors with decades of startup and scaling experience who are committed to long-term mentor-mentee relationships, helping you navigate your entrepreneurial journey.
- Connect with world-class investors who align with your vision, while refining your ability to identify supportive and strategic shareholders.
- Facilitate introductions and foster collaborations with leading enterprises in Taiwan and the region, helping you expand your business and unlock new opportunities.
- Tap into web3 and Southeast Asia’s resources, including tailored founder meetups, VC connections, and region-wide Demo Day showcases in these dynamic ecosystems.
- Access tailored supply chain resources and strategically establish your R&D hub in Taiwan, leveraging the region’s world-class manufacturing ecosystem to accelerate your AI and IoT innovations.
- Subject-matter experts from the AppWorks team that specialize in functional domains spanning PR, legal, finance, accounting, recruiting, product, branding and UI/UX.
- Gain access to qualified AppWorks School alumni who could be the perfect developers for your team.
The connections you will build
Throughout my eight-year entrepreneurial journey, AppWorks has provided support at various stages: in the early days, I received legal and accounting advice, office space, and mentorship; in the mid-stage, I benefited from their fundraising advisory services; and more recently, as Cake expanded into Southeast Asia, I saw AppWorks' presence in different countries and received their assistance. I would say AppWorks has genuinely been there, growing alongside founders.
Trantor Liu, Founder & CEO of Cake (AW#14)
AppWorks Community
AppWorks is one of those rare connections you make where they not only know exactly what they’re talking about, but give you the focused time, effort and attention required to help you execute. When joining a cohort you’ll find yourself surrounded by high caliber startups facing many of the same challenges as you. You walk away from the accelerator better connected, better supported and better equipped to tackle the challenges ahead.
Christian Gonzalez, Founder of Event Horizon (AW#28)
Founders in Our Alumni Network
A Community to Help Solve Problems, Cross-Promote, and Connect with Investors & Business Partners
When you join AppWorks, you’re immediately connected to an extraordinary network of over 1,700 founders spanning 7 markets across Taiwan and Southeast Asia, along with a growing group of web3 pioneers from around the globe. Within the AppWorks ecosystem, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with talented founders, including:
Together, you’ll find the community extremely powerful when:
- You run into problems and need advice from founders with similar experiences.
- You want to connect with AI, web3, or regional communities for collaboration.
- You need an intro to someone.
- You are looking for cross-promotion or collaboration.
- You want to check references on an investor or a potential business partner.
In terms of scale, AppWorks is the largest community of its kind in Asia. But more importantly, our culture of “paying-it-forward” and helping each other out is the real reason why it’s so valuable.
AppWorks is a startup for startups. Young, energetic, flexible, efficient and “customer” centric, prioritizing startups’ needs before anything else. One thing unlike a startup, however, is the resourcefulness of AppWorks, offering a strong alumni network, full team of masters in various aspects, space and hardware, referral network, support on paperwork, and even free lunch. The service level is so high, sometimes it feels surreal.
Kin Ko, Founder of AW#18 LikeCoin
Guidance from Proven Founders
Connect with the Right Coach, Acquire the Right Mindset, Become the Best Founder You Can Be
Our mentor network includes over 100 successful startup founders who are ready to guide and support you in building lifelong coaching relationships. Among them are industry leaders like Steven Ho of 91APP, who led an impressive IPO and previously exited startups to Yahoo! and eBay; Ming Chen of KKday, who achieved two IPOs and an M&A exit; and Jerry and Andy Kuo of Kuo Brothers, who sold their company to Groupon before building two more companies from scratch to IPO.
You’ll also have access to experts such as Blake Larson, previously the Global Managing Director of Lalamove, Joseph Phua of 17LIVE, Siu Rui Quek of Carousell, and Leontinus Alpha Edison of Tokopedia. Additionally, we have a growing roster of web3 mentors, including Roham Gharegozlou of Dapper Labs/Flow and Yat Siu of Animoca Brands.
AppWorks has been a game-changer for my journey of startup. The mentorship, resources, and network provided have accelerated our growth beyond expectations. The mafia and staff at AppWorks truly understands the challenges of scaling a startup and provide invaluable business insights and experience to avoid making the same mistakes. Thanks to their guidance, we’ve been able to refine our strategies, access new markets, and build stronger partnerships. AppWorks is not just an accelerator; it’s a dedicated partner in our success.
Ting Hsieh, CEO & Co-founder of DOTDOT (AW#10)
How Will It Help My Fundraising?
Raise Your Next Round, Guided by a Leading Venture Capital Firm
Terms, Structures, and Syndicates Tailored to Your Needs
The venture capital ecosystem is sophisticated and complex, filled with firms specializing in different segments for various startup stages, along with a maze of complex terms and rules. First-time founders often find the learning curve challenging to overcome, and going through one pitch meeting after another to eventually find THE right investors can be a daunting task. That’s where AppWorks comes in – not only as an accelerator but also as a VC. We’re here to support your fundraising efforts, whether it’s via equity, SAFE, token, or SAFT. Click here to learn more about our Funds.
Founders in our accelerator are encouraged to talk to us about your capital needs at any time, during or after the program. We’re always open for a chat. After all, who knows our startups better than us? On top of that, we can often act as the bridge between our startups and the venture capital community by leading financing rounds and putting together a syndicate tailored to your needs. Most importantly, we can connect you with alumni who have successful fundraising experience and invite them to share their valuable experiences and insights with you.
Joining AppWorks' Accelerator was transformative for Omnichat. Their mentorship and robust alumni network fueled our business expansion in Taiwan and SEA. Their expert advice refined our marketing while their lead investment in our seed round funding demonstrated their belief in our potential. AppWorks isn't just an investor, they're genuine partners, committed to nurturing emerging founders through valuable resources and steadfast support.
Alan Chan, Co-founder & CEO of Omnichat (AW#16)
Activities
In collaboration with
More Perks
Token & credits offered by our partners, including Microsoft, AWS, Google, Stripe, BlendVision, and Zendesk. Web3-related perks include auditing firms like Quantstamp and Halborn, market makers such as GSR, infrastructure providers like Fireblocks and Chainlink, and PR support.
Ready to Apply?
AppWorks Accelerator #30 is now open for submissions.
AW#30 Accelerator Timeline
