- 60 finalists for SG60 milestone edition selected by an international panel of judges and visionary partners
- Focus on empowering Urban Solutions and Sustainability to solve the world’s most essential, urgent challenges
- Pioneered a new AI screening platform to enhance the discovery of disruptive startups
- Record global participation with S$2.5 million+ prize pool
Singapore, 7 August 2025 (Thursday) — Singapore Management University (SMU) announces the 60 finalists of the 12th Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC), celebrating a major milestone as Singapore commemorates its 60th year of independence. Organised by SMU’s Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), this year’s competition sets a benchmark for university-led deep-tech startup competitions, with new records for global participation.
Held every two years, the LKYGBPC is one of the largest university-led startup competitions in Asia. This year, finalists will gather at SMU’s city campus between 29 September and 2 October 2025 to pitch their innovations to a judging panel during the LKYGBPC Grand Finals Week.
Startups will compete for a prize pool of over S$2.5 million in the 12th edition of the biennial competition this year. The global competition shines a spotlight on startups with Urban Solutions and Sustainability innovations that address today’s universal grand challenges. From airless wheels based on NASA technology and transistors that cut data centre energy use by 30 per cent, to bioplastics tough enough to rival petroleum-based plastics, on-demand hydrogen production at sea, and self-healing concrete, these breakthroughs are amongst the shortlisted entries that challenge decades-old limits in energy, mobility, and infrastructure.
“The 12th LKYGBPC saw record-breaking 1,500+ applications from more than 1,200 universities across 91 countries, a 57 per cent increase compared to the previous edition’s submissions. Entries from Asia increased by 70 per cent, and we also saw a significant increase in submissions from North America, the Middle East and North Africa,” said Ms Shirley Wong （王秀萍）, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at SMU IIE, Managing Partner of TNF Ventures, and Chairperson of the 12th LKYGBPC Advisory Committee.
“These numbers reflect the growing confidence from startups globally in leveraging Singapore as a business and technology gateway to the rest of Asia. Hosting LKYGBPC alongside SG60 – a nation-wide movement celebrating Singapore’s next chapter of her nation-building journey – and the Singapore Grand Prix adds a higher level of energy and global attention, making it a powerful platform for entrepreneurs to connect, learn, and co-create with trailblazers worldwide,” she added.
Startup founders are drawn to the 12th LKYGBPC as Singapore offers a regional springboard for scaling across Asia, with its status as a global multilingual hub of innovation and talent. Said Evangelos Moschos, a finalist of the LKYGBPC and post-doctoral researcher at France’s Ecole Polytechnique, is also the Co-Founder and CTO of OceanTech startup Amphitrite. He shared, “Singapore is the world’s busiest transhipment hub where we can access leading shipping lines, investors, government agencies, and tap into a world-class R&D ecosystem. We anticipate engaging with local academic partners through the competition to explore joint research projects. We’re also keen to hire Singaporean talent, including SMU students, to work in Paris or Singapore.”
This year, startups will compete across 12 focus areas, namely Carbon Tech, Climate Tech, Emerging Tech, Energy Transition, Food and Land Use, Green Buildings and Construction, Homeland Security, Public Health, Sustainable Materials and Circularity, Transport and Logistics, Urban Mobility and Water Solutions.
AI Screening to Boost Objectivity in Startup Evaluation
As a new feature this year, LKYGBPC also introduces the DueAI™ Challenge, a novel initiative that leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance the efficiency and comprehensiveness of startup screening. This approach reflects emerging trends in the global venture capital (VC) and startup landscape, where AI-enabled capabilities are increasingly adopted to streamline data collection, accelerate deal flow, and support data-driven investment decisions.
Dr Sze Tiam Lin (徐添仁), the Senior Licensing Advisor at SMU IIE who created this new initiative, said, “The DueAITM Challenge demonstrates how AI can transform entrepreneurial evaluation for investors and deliver greater scalability and objectivity while empowering human decision-making.”
What’s On during Grand Finals Week
Throughout the Grand Finals Week, held from 29 September to 2 October 2025 at SMU, the 60 global finalists will participate in a series of events designed to connect them with key stakeholders. These include closed-door roundtable sessions with influential regional business families. The startup founders will gain invaluable insights and mentorship, while the business families can engage with cutting-edge technologies relevant to their investment portfolios and industries.
This year's competition will also serve as a vital pipeline for internship and career opportunities for Singapore-based students. Via an inaugural Talent Exchange segment, students will have the chance to pitch their expertise directly to the finalist startups for the opportunity to join startup teams from universities such as the University of Tokyo, ETH Zurich, Tsinghua University and Harvard University,
The week will culminate in the highly anticipated Blaze Mixer Night, an open invitation for Singapore's youth to engage with the young founders from the 60 finalist startups, be inspired by their new technologies, and grow their network.
Catalysing Innovation with a Growing Community of Partnerships
The 12th edition of LKYGBPC also welcomes the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) as its first official Scientific Knowledge Partner, bringing their world-class scientific expertise and network to the competition.
In addition, the LKYGBPC is honoured to be supported by a growing ecosystem of visionary partners, who have provided continuous support to the finalists over the years and enabled the competition to deliver enduring impact across Asia.
The Zhang Fan Global AI Initiative Award, which will be presented for the second consecutive edition of LKYGBPC, aims to empower startups which are pushing boundaries in AI. Mr Zhang Fan （张帆）, formerly Co-founder of Sequoia Capital China and a four-time Forbes ‘Midas List’ honoree VC, said, “I’ve had the privilege of backing innovators fresh out of university who dare to reimagine the future. LKYGBPC convenes a truly world-class cohort of founders poised to engage with Southeast Asia, where catalytic funding and mentorship remain essential. As we stand on the cusp of a new AI era, I look forward to leveraging my experience and resources to help these teams transform breakthroughs into meaningful impact.”
Among the other new collaborators is Indorama Ventures, which is behind the Future of Sustainable Materials Award, tapping its end-to-end R&D and manufacturing expertise to spotlight breakthrough materials innovations.
“Our mission at Indorama Ventures is to create indispensable chemistry, transforming lab-born innovations into global solutions that touch billions of lives every day. Through LKYGBPC’s global pipeline, we can engage closely with early-stage deep-tech ventures from Asia and beyond, helping us accelerate innovation and build a more sustainable world for decades to come,” said Mr Yash Lohia, Executive President of Petchem and Chairman of the ESG Council, Indorama Ventures.
Greater support for entrepreneurs aiming to drive a resilient and more sustainable future will also come in the form of awards backed by leading Venture Capital firms such as Antler, TRIREC and Wavemaker Partners. Mr Paul Santos, Managing Partner of Wavemaker Partners, is a steadfast supporter of LKYGBPC through the LKYGBPC Investment Prize that supports innovative Enterprise, Deep Tech, and Sustainability-focused startups.
He said, “Over the years, the competition has attracted bold, young founders from all over the world, reinforcing Singapore’s role as a rising global hub for entrepreneurship. This aligns closely with our mission of investing in founders building companies that are solving meaningful problems and creating real, lasting impact.”
