AppWorks Accelerator

Turbocharging Top Founders since 2010

AppWorks Accelerator

Why Join?

Every six months, we invite the most driven, strategic-minded, and fastest-moving founders working on AI, web3, and Southeast Asia to join AppWorks Accelerator.

Upon onboarding with AppWorks, you are immediately immersed in a diverse community of equally ambitious founders. Your 70 batchmates, our 100 mentors, and 1,660 strong alumni founders, the AppWorks Team and our Masters are all here to help you fine-tune your startup and maximize your founder growth. Whether you are a growth-stage or early-stage startup, we tailor the program to your needs. 

When Demo Day rolls around, you get to tell your story in front of hundreds of hand-selected investors and potential business partners in Taiwan. After Demo Day, you may also pitch to VCs at our Startup Showcase events held in startup hubs around Southeast Asia. There is no better way to get connected and build partnerships. 

Best of all, it’s completely free to join – we don’t take equity, tokens, or charge any service fees.

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 breakthroughs; for a web3 startup to keep up with everything going on in the crypto world; or for an emerging Southeast Asian company to establish operations spanning multiple markets. 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, is an incredibly 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 and growing ubiquity of AI, especially Generative AI, in today’s business world has become self-evident. The growing sophistication of AI algorithms and the increasing availability of data combined with open-source AI tools have created unprecedented opportunities for startups to apply Generative AI across a wide range of industries, from healthcare to retail to entertainment and beyond. 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 extend an invitation to founders who share our conviction, possess a relentless appetite for learning, and are dedicated to 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. Home to nearly 700 million people, the region is just now coming of age with growing affluence, increasing consumer sophistication, and accelerating digital adoption, collectively underpinned by a strong rising middle class consistently driving brisk macroeconomic growth. There are now roughly 50 unicorns in Southeast Asia and several publicly-listed companies including Sea Group, Grab, GoTo, Bukalapak, and 17LIVE the latest, with many more already in the making as digital technologies penetrate deeper into traditional industries.

As a first-time founder back in 2011, joining AppWorks, the largest startup accelerator in Great Southeast Asia, 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. 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, CEO of WeMo Scooter (AW#12); Co-founder & CEO of CHOCO TV (AW#2)

What happens during the Accelerator?

Plug Into Our Network

The connections you will build

  • Forge life-long relationships with 70 like-minded founders in your batch.
  • An alumni network of 1,660 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.
  • Mentors that have decades of startup and successful scaling exit experience who commit to a long-term mentor-mentee relationship and guide you along the way.
  • Connect with world-class investors interested in your vision, while honing your ability to identify complementary and supportive shareholders.
  • Subject-matter experts from the AppWorks team that specialize in functional domains spanning PR, legal, finance, accounting, recruiting, product, SEO/SEM, and UI/UX.
  • Access to qualified AppWorks School alumni who may be the perfect developer you’ve been looking for.
  • Access to web3 and Southeast Asia regional resources such as founder meetups, VC connections, and local showcase opportunities in various Southeast Asian countries.

AppWorks is a give-first VC: they are a group of warm-hearted professionals whose only job is to help founders succeed in both Taiwan and abroad, by making all its resources available with no strings attached. They are well connected in Taiwan and SEA -- I can easily get an intro to anyone very responsively. They understand the mindsets of startups and are always available to give and serve. I've never seen a VC doing so much for companies regardless whether they are a portfolio company or not. AppWorks is collecting good karma!

Xuchen Yao, co-founder & CEO of AW#25, Seasalt.ai

AppWorks Community

Founders in our alumni network

A Community to Help Solve Problems, Cross-Promote, and Connect with Investors & Business Partners

Once you join AppWorks, you are immediately connected to our extraordinary alumni network of over a thousand founders. Within the AppWorks Ecosystem, you’ll have the opportunity to meet talented alumni founders including:

Together, you’ll find the community extremely powerful when:

  • You run into problems and need advice from those who have done similar things.
  • You want to engage with AI, web3, and regional communities to find support.
  • 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

Founders in our mentors network

Connect with the Right Coach, Acquire the Right Mindset, Become the Best Founder You Can Be

Our mentor network spans more than 100 successful startup founders that you can connect with and build lifelong coaching relationships, including Steven Ho of 91APP, who had an outstanding IPO in addition to successfully exiting previous startups to Yahoo! and eBay; Ming Chen of KKday, who successfully completed two IPOs and one M&A exit; Jerry Kuo and Andy Kuo of Kuo Brothers, who sold their company to Groupon and later built two companies from the ground up to IPO; together with Blake Larson from Lalamove, Joseph Phua of 17LIVE, Siu Rui Quek of Carousell, and Leontinus Alpha Edison of Tokopedia. We also have a growing list of web3 mentors such as Roham Gharegozlou of Dapper Labs/Flow and Yat Siu of Animoca Brands.

AppWorks provides incredibly supportive mentorship to startup founders. All their partners and staff maintain tight-knit relationships with founders that went through the accelerator program and can provide advice and guidance specific to the challenges (e.g. finance, HR, PR, fundraising) that startups face.

Kevin Chan, co-founder & CEO of AW#11 TaxiGo
(acquired by LINE and is now known as LINE GO)

How will it help my fundraising?

Raising Your Next Fundraising Round, Advised by a Leading Venture Capital Firm

Terms, Structures, and Syndicate, Tailored to Your Needs

The venture capital ecosystem is sophisticated and complex, filled with firms specializing in different segments for various startup stages. It is also brimming with a slew of complicated terms and rules. First-time founders often find the learning curve difficult to overcome and getting to the right investors a daunting task. That is why AppWorks is also a VC firm ourselves so we can better help you on the fundraising side, including equity / SAFE / token and SAFT fundraising.

Click here to learn more about our Funds.

Founders who enter our accelerator are encouraged to talk to us about their capital needs at any time, either during or after their accelerator experience. 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 stories 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 AW#16, Omnichat

What are the facilities & activities?

Facilities

AppWorks Lounge
Hot desks, AppWorks café, and high-speed Wi-Fi, printer, and fax services are provided at our AppWorks lounge, which is located in the heart of Taipei.
More Utilities
Token & credits offered by our partners, including Flow, Alchemy, AWS, GCP, Stripe, Twilio, BlendVision, and Zendesk.

Activities

Demo Day
Pitch to hundreds of investors, potential partners, and media from across the region
Startup Showcase
Selected startups will have the chance to pitch to VCs locally in Southeast Asia
Mentor Program
Gain feedback and build relationships with 80+ AppWorks Mentors
Office Hours
Strategy discussions with Mentors, AppWorks Partners, and Masters
Fireside Chats
Learn from the experiences and tactics of successful founders
Founders Exchanges
Peer updates & feedback sessions
Alumni Meetups
Meet and engage with AppWorks Alumni from different markets and verticals. Events will be hosted regionally in Taiwan and SEA
Batch Retreat
A weekend getaway with your batch mates
Landing Pod
Explore the Taiwanese market via site visits and sharings from local champions
Recruiting Events
Connect with top engineering and startup talents
Specialist Support
Acquire fundamental skills in legal, finance, accounting, recruiting, product, and UI/UX from our team of Masters

In collaboration with

Ready to Apply?

The AppWorks Accelerator #29 application submissions are closed. If you’re interested in joining the next batch, please submit your information here. We will let you know when the application window opens.

AW#29 Accelerator Timeline

Applications Open
Apr 22 2024
First Round Closes
May 29 2024
Final Round Closes
Jun 28 2024
Official Kick-off
Sep 2024

Questions? Check out our FAQs: EN |

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