QUEZON City Mayor Joy Belmonte said on Wednesday that the local government has awarded a total of P6 million in equity-free grants to six local tech startups under the StartUp QC Program.
“This is to support them and empower homegrown innovators like them as they create impactful solutions for various sectors,” Belmonte said.
The Startup QC, the first and largest local government unit-run startup program in the Philippines, culminated in a demo day featuring tech-driven solutions aimed at addressing the most pressing challenges across a variety of sectors, she said.
Quezon City Mayor Maria Josefina “Joy” Belmonte. TMT file photo
From an initial pool of 58 applicants, the final awardees were selected after a rigorous selection process, group mentorship, and product development workshops.
One standout finalist is Nyha Robotics, a promising team that first made waves as an awardee in the recently launched Startup QC Student Competition.
Other notable startups include Callback, which aims to professionalize the casting process for cultural workers, and Kwentoon, a startup that seeks to enhance youth literacy and promote Filipino contemporary arts through storytelling digital platforms.
Another set of groundbreaking startups includes Lithos Manufacturing, Pasajob, and RevUp Finance, each driving innovation in their respective fields, according to the city government.
Lithos tackles climate resilience with a compact, portable water filtration system that provides safe drinking water to remote or disaster-affected areas.
Pasajob, branded in GCash as GJobs, accelerates job placements through a referral-based system that rewards users with referral fees.
Meanwhile, RevUp Finance revolutionizes small-medium enterprise financial operations by cutting invoicing and payment processing times by 80 percent.
With the success of the program, Belmonte said her administration is exploring the creation of a startup incentives program to encourage more Filipinos and QCitizens to engage in entrepreneurship and technology development.
She said the city government would continue to work alongside key partners such as the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Information and Communications Technology, tech-innovation incubators and hub-Launch Garage, whose invaluable guidance has contributed to the program’s growth.
“We are proud to see how these startups evolve and create meaningful sectoral transformation,” Belmonte said.
