More Singapore firms want to expand into Europe, using Germany as a springboard

Opportunities for start-ups

While big companies may be able to acquire small and medium-sized enterprises to get a foot in the European door, Singapore start-ups also have opportunities to enter Europe through Germany.

EnterpriseSG runs a programme called the Global Innovation Alliance, which has networks in 21 cities globally, including Munich and Berlin.

Since 2019, the agency has supported more than 500 Singapore tech companies through the programme, which has benefited over 700 participants in their firms’ overseas expansion efforts.

On average, the number of Singapore firms that participated in the programme in Europe grew at a compound annual growth rate of 43 per cent from 2020 to 2022.

Germany is an innovation hot spot that offers opportunities for Singapore firms in med-tech, climate tech, smart city and Industry 4.0 solutions, said Start2 Group’s Linda Nguyen Schindler, who is director of the Artificial Intelligence Competence Centre, Asia.

Start2 Group is EnterpriseSG’s partner for the global innovation alliance acceleration programme in Munich and Berlin. It also helps to bring German start-ups to Singapore for collaborations that can allow both sides’ entry into their respective markets.

One Singapore start-up that benefited from the global programme is TeleMedC, which develops artificial intelligence diagnostic technologies to detect early changes in the eye to prevent blindness.

The company started operations in 2017 and participated in the EnterpriseSG programme in Germany in 2021. Through the programme, TeleMedC met a contact who helped the firm to settle in Hamburg, getting a two-year research grant to work with the local university hospital.

“TeleMedC is now signed with multiple healthcare partners to roll out this summer. Having progressed well in Germany, we now feel confident that it can be our gateway to other markets in Europe,” said the company’s founder and chief executive Para Segaram.

He added: “It takes time to understand the local market, laws governing hiring, accounting, and we had to rely on translation software and the internet search engines to learn the subtle nuances of communication and work culture.”

Start2 Group chief executive for global and Europe Matthias Notz noted that there are opportunities for German start-ups to connect with those in Singapore, adding that Singapore is a launchpad for the Asian market.

“That’s important because the start-up ecosystem consists of collaborations. You cannot innovate without collaboration. It’s not the collaboration within Munich or between Munich and Frankfurt. It’s the collaboration on a truly international level,” he said.