Touted the world’s first global corporate executive angel syndicate with 80% female representation, she1K announced top 3 startups that tapped into an investment pool by 32 executives who participated as C-sharks. Consistent with Season 1, the ratio of female executives is kept at 70%. C-sharks (who are corporate executives with more than 15 years industry experience) commit cash upfront without knowing which startups would be pitching to them. They would then top up further within a week after the final 3 were selected. 60% of C-sharks topped up, resulting in a pool of close to half a million dollars to fund the winning startups.

Season 2 goes online – wider reach, higher intensity

Coined C-shark Tank, she1K created a multi-stage program where top 16 startups pitched to a 77-strong jury (70% female representation) in stage 1. Jury then shortlisted the top 10 to pitch to C-sharks. Adapting to COVID constraints, the program not only went 100% online via zoom, it was extended to cater to 3 time zones – Asia, Europe and New York. With cycles compressed, since startups do not need to fly in person to Singapore, C-shark Tank will be staged every 4 months, 3 times a year. 

“The engagement is more intense for both the startups and the C-sharks and Jury as we take the program online. We kept it highly interactive allowing LIVE questions instead of passive submission of questions in chat boxes which typical in other pitch events. That is why we received rave reviews from the Jury and C-sharks that it was well run and they enjoyed the diversity of the startups and of the group.” Christina Teo, Chief Builder, she1K. 

Season 2 Results – Top 3 winners

The top 3 winners were picked from ten finalists from diverse sectors spanning edutech, femtech, fashion, Industrial 4.0, medtech, fintech, maritime. 

Top 3 Winners include: 

RESPIREE – Singapore

Respiree democratises the use of remote breath-cardio sensors and artificial intelligence for targeted cardio-respiratory diseases predictions and diagnosis. 

RENUBLE – United States

Re-Nuble enables farms to convert food waste streams into plant-based fertiliser for soil-less cultivation. This AgTech enables soilless farms to operate a closed-loop food production more profitably and efficiently. 

OPEN OCEAN CAMERA – Hong Kong

Open Ocean Camera revolutionises ocean imaging for maritime researchers, conservationists and citizen scientists. With its AI-module to auto sort images and videos, users never have to spend long man- hours for post-processing again. 

How does C-shark Tank program work? 

Each startup pitched for 4 minutes, followed by 10 mins of Q & A. Unlike other pitch events, any of the 77 jury members could question the startups. Jury could continue to submit questions online same day and startups must respond within 24 hours. The Jury submit their scores and shortlist the final 10 startups to pitch to C-sharks 3 weeks later. To cater to different time zones and busy schedules of executives, double sessions were hosted per stage this Season. 

Additionally, Top 10 startups get coached on their business proposition, model and scalability with deep dive sessions. An evaluation report is compiled about each of the top 10 as material for C-sharks to study before their sessions. Following 2 half-days of pitching, there were 2 half days of “cluster-dating” with the startups in smaller groups. C-sharks then convene in a war room to make the final TOP 3 choices to fund. 

The program calls for high commitment of time and effort from the startups. Startups pitched twice to jury in 2 sessions (to cater to different time zones) and to C-sharks in 2 sessions and participated in 6 to 10 cluster dating sessions with smaller groups of C-sharks. 

Next C-sharkTank

Season 3 will commence recruiting startups – on a rolling basis – mid August. C-shark Tank will take place Nov 17 and 19 with jury day about a month before. 

About she1K

she1K aims at rallying 1000 corporate executives to pool together funds to invest in early startups that are industry and gender agnostic, globally. 

Effective August 2019, she1K is backed by Enterprise Singapore. she1K.com