National Innovators Initiative
2025 Power Cohort By Invitation Only
MEET THE 100X FELLOWS
You won’t find a more ready, willing and able gathering of 100X entrepreneurs and investors in the Philippines. Individually, we are super achievers; together as 100X Fellows we will build the greatest generation of Filipino innovations, each in our own space.
Between IGNITE and KAYA, Andre and Paulo bring 2 of the country's most active early-stage VCs joining forces with Carlo’s AI FIRST at the forefront of PH AI implementations, both applications and capacity-building.
Then we hand-picked 30 of the country’s top entrepreneurs: half of them are founders we’re already invested in; others are known builders with deep, formidable domain expertise; and still others are captains of industry, including Global 200 and publicly-listed companies who are building their next big thing.
We all share this in common, the core of our 100X Fellowship: we're each solving important problems for our most important customers, each with a vision and commitment to deliver 100X ROI and impact.
Note: Expanded bios with co-founders and 100X perspectives will be launched throughout April 2025. Our 100-Day Fellowship jumpstarts 29 April 2025.
RE VC. AI is changing the rules fast! The best VCs have to dive in at the earliest stages, get our hands dirty in builds, so we can grasp and stay ahead of all the disruption AI is driving-- weekly!
RE 100X. At the same time, we need to be even more obsessed about the never-changing fundamentals: VC is a 100X game and 100X ROI and Impact demands relentless focus, focus, focus, customer, customer, CUSTOMER!!! There's a rigor and repeatable process to 100X, and that's what we're obsessed about operationalizing via our 100X Dashboard. More than ever, everything still starts with great founders-- except in the age of AI the definition of a great founder has become more democratic. That's what 100X PH is. We've personally hand-picked an iconocalstic cohort of the very best founders, each an equally obsessed partner in our quest to build the greatest generation of Filipino startups.
RE AI FIRST. AI FIRST isn't just a brand. It's a first-principle way of building every layer of a business (products, services, biz models, ops, customer service, admin, etc) by reducing the most important activities into "workflows" (e.g., products are simply workflows that customers use to get something they need) and using the right AI tech and tools to do the workflows 10 times better, faster, cheaper. AI-FIRST is a call to arms for organizations and professionals to become "AI-First" (use AI wherever AI can do it better, faster, cheaper) in everything they do. Because AI-FIRST is now possible for everyone... if you're not doing AI-FIRST then you're sprinting your way into becoming very uncompetitive very fast.
100X reflects our core belief at Kaya that founders thrive when given the right partners, resources, and community from Day 0. This program brings together the kind of synergy and ambition we need to build the next wave of tech companies from the Philippines.
AIFirst isn't just a brand – it's a mindset; it's a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
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Senior 100X Fellow
Founder & CEO
HYBRID SOCIAL
Social Impact & Faith-Driven Enterprise
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Our Power Customers.
We work with founder-CEOs, scale-up operators, and global innovation leaders navigating complexity at pace. They’re the ones standing on the edge—facing high-stakes decisions, constant reinvention, and relentless pressure to deliver growth. What sets them apart is their mindset: bold thinkers who know they don’t need more noise—they need sharper questions, clearer systems, and real, side-by-side partners to help them cut through and move forward fast.
Our Power Focus.
Success is rarely blocked by a bold vision—it’s friction: misaligned teams, unclear priorities, and slow decision-making in moments that matter. We help leaders design better products, evolve business models that fit customers, and automate operations to scale fast. We amplify your startup’s strengths and sharpen founder confidence to lead through uncertainty and unlock full market potential.
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Our Power Customers. At Pawnec, we’re laser-focused on visionary, forward-thinking veterinarians, and strategic pet industry leaders—the key opinion shapers driving 80% of our technology adoption. They don’t settle for fragmented solutions; they want clear, efficient, and insight-driven veterinary interventions that elevate the overall health and wellbeing of pets.
Our Power Focus. We’re targeting critical challenges: inconsistent vaccination traceability, non-compliance with pet policies and veterinarians’ prescriptions, incomprehensible vaccination and medical records, and the ongoing fights against rabies and other fatal transmissible diseases. We also bridge the gaps in regulating pet ownership and modernizing operational practices that compromise both pet health and public safety. Our vet-connected and government-integrated pet ID unifies and simplifies the efforts in ensuring both pets and their human companions thrive in our shared community. This revolution not only delivers 100x ROI but also lays the cornerstone for a truly pet-friendlier world,
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Co-Fellows: Addie Quiachon
Our Power Customers:
InvestEd targets students who want to get a degree so they can have higher incomes. These students don’t have credit history to qualify for a bank loan. There are fintechs, but students don’t have enough mobile transactions data to qualify for a loan big enough for tuition with a long payment term. With no government subsidies, this leaves youth with 2 options- drop out of school or get into a debt trap with loan sharks charging 360%-1000%/annum. In short, no financial product fits students today.
Our Power Focus:
InvestEd created a financial product and borrowing experience tailor fit to Gen Zs. This includes AI-Driven Hyperpersonalized Loan Structures that fit the student’s cash flows in their education to early career journey and an AI-Driven Coach-Collector Service Model which uses behavioral data to personalize the payment journey for students, determining if a coaching or a collections approach, or a combo of both will maximize repayment rates and customer satisfaction. InvestEd aims to capture 648K college students ASAP, which is the tipping point required to win the 20M youth market.
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Our Power Customers
Noneaway targets forward-thinking, ambitious real estate brokers, investors, and high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) who are looking to break through the traditional barriers of local real estate markets. These power customers are driven by the need for seamless, cross-border connections to expand their portfolios globally. They are tech-savvy, open to AI-driven solutions, and looking for platforms that streamline the complex process of property listing, sales, and verification. These customers are looking for tools that not only save them time and effort but also provide actionable insights and data that give them a competitive edge in an ever-evolving market. The defining characteristic of our power customers is their desire to leverage technology for maximum impact, both in their local markets and globally, while delivering a high-touch service to their clients.
Our Power Focus
We’re addressing the core pain points of these high-value customers:
1. Fragmented Market Access – Real estate brokers and HNWIs often struggle to access cross-border markets efficiently, limiting their ability to expand their reach and grow their business. We solve this by providing a unified platform that connects brokers, investors, and HNWIs across borders, allowing them to expand into international markets without the headache of navigating multiple systems.
2. Slow and Cumbersome Verification Processes – Broker and user verifications are often slow, disjointed, and prone to error. This leads to missed opportunities and delays. We’re tackling this by automating the verification process with AI, speeding up onboarding and ensuring that the right users and brokers are matched for listings.
3. Complex and Inefficient Listing Management – Managing listings can be tedious, especially when dealing with multiple brokers, clients, and investors. Noneaway eliminates this pain point by simplifying the listing process, enabling brokers to list properties quickly and manage them from anywhere. We’re focused on creating a platform that lets brokers and HNWIs streamline their work while maintaining a personal touch with their clients.
By solving these power pains, we’re positioning Noneaway as the ultimate real estate platform for brokers, investors, and high-net-worth individuals who want to streamline their processes, connect globally, and stay ahead of the competition with cutting-edge AI technology.
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At Vox Studios, we have 2 types of power customers:
Prosumers (B to C)
A Prosumer is a “producer-consumer” — someone who doesn’t just passively consume content or services but actively creates, personalizes, and builds with your product.
Key Prosumer Characteristics
Creative Problem Solvers: They don’t just want to use tools — they want to build them.
No-Code Innovators: They aren’t technical but think like makers and designers.
Voice-Native Thinkers: Speaking is faster, more expressive, and more natural than typing for them.
Efficiency-Obsessed: They value tools that automate tasks and free up mental space.
Early Adopters: Curious, experimental, and excited by AI's creative potential.
In Vox’s case: A Prosumer is an individual who uses Vox to create, train, and deploy custom voice AI agents for personal productivity, creative projects, or micro-business tasks—without needing technical skills.
Core Needs
Fast Creation: A way to build powerful AI agents without writing a line of code.
Customization by Voice: Tools that adapt to their workflow, not the other way around.
Agent Visibility: Transparency in how their agents think, act, and evolve (mindmaps, workflows).
Multi-Use Utility: One tool they can use across productivity, content creation, and side hustles.
Power Statement (Prosumer):
Prosumers are not just users—they're mini-developers, product evangelists, and innovation drivers. Vox Studios solves the frustration of complex AI tools, lack of customization, and time-consuming workflows by letting Prosumers build and fine-tune AI agents using only their voice. Prosumers love Vox Studios because it lets them turn ideas into custom AI agents using only their voice—fast, creatively, and without code
Companies (B to B)
Companies that have repetitive, voice-driven, or process-heavy communication needs and want to empower staff or customers through AI agents without building from scratch.
These are businesses that benefit from scalable automation, enhanced customer interaction, and internal workflow optimization — especially where voice adds speed, personality, or accessibility.
Key Company Characteristics
💼 Mid-Sized Organizations (50–200 staff)
⟳ Repetitive Processes (intake, Q&A, scheduling)
🔊 Voice-First Advantage (support, speed, human feel)
🌐 Multilingual Needs (regional/local operations)
⚡ Fast-Scaling Teams (want automation to scale)
Why They Adopt Vox
📲 No-code, fast onboarding
✅ Privacy-first compliance (HIPAA/GDPR)
🌐 Multilingual voice agents
💡 Plug-and-play productivity for staff or customers
Power Statement (Business):
Vox Studio’s core business customers are mid-sized service companies using voice AI to automate workflows and enhance customer experience. Vox Studios solves the challenges of repetitive tasks, slow customer response, and lack of in-house AI expertise by providing voice-powered AI agents that automate workflows and scale service instantly. Businesses love Vox Studios because it automates customer interactions and internal workflows with custom voice AI—no tech team required.
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Co-Fellows: Kendrick Co
Our Power Customers. ENTITY's power customers are ambitious financial institutions and lenders eager to expand their SME financing portfolios but constrained by slow verification processes. They see tremendous growth potential in serving small businesses but struggle with incomplete documentation, fragmented verification sources, and manual KYB procedures that create weeks-long bottlenecks. What makes these customers valuable is their recognition that streamlining business verification is the key to unlocking rapid SME loan growth. They're seeking technology that can transform their month-long verification cycles into days or hours, allowing them to scale lending without proportionally increasing operational costs or compliance risks.
Our Power Focus. We're laser-focused on eliminating the 20% of compliance pain points causing 80% of our power customers' frustrations: repetitive document collection, siloed verification data, and inconsistent standards across regions. ENTITY addresses these through our universal business identifier (ENTITY ID) serving as a "business passport," centralized secure document storage with real-time registry updates, and a future-ready platform architecture. Our partnership with a major financial institution validates our approach, delivering immediate operational efficiencies while positioning clients to seamlessly adapt to evolving compliance requirements.
Coming Soon
Power Customers. We’re building an alternative learning pathway for girls ages 13-22 in urban poor communities in the Philippines—those with big dreams but limited access to traditional education. Many of these girls can’t afford a laptop or a stable internet connection, and college simply isn’t an option. The current education system isn’t preparing them for the future. There exists no AI alternative education. Tech skills are taught in outdated, uninspiring ways, leaving students behind in a rapidly evolving industry. Without access to better opportunities, these girls often end up in low-paying jobs or feel forced to work overseas. We want to change that by giving them the tools, mentorship, and hands-on training they need to thrive in tech—right here at home.
Power Focus. We start with the problem we want to solve, then teach the tools needed to solve it. Using AI, we assess what they already know, spot knowledge gaps, and understand how they learn best. From there, we design a hyper-personalized learning journey—guided by both a real human mentor and an AI tutor—blending the power of technology with the heart of human mentorship.
Coming Soon
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Co-Fellow: Jay Fajardo
Our Power Customers. ENTITY's power customers are ambitious financial institutions and lenders eager to expand their SME financing portfolios but constrained by slow verification processes. They see tremendous growth potential in serving small businesses but struggle with incomplete documentation, fragmented verification sources, and manual KYB procedures that create weeks-long bottlenecks. What makes these customers valuable is their recognition that streamlining business verification is the key to unlocking rapid SME loan growth. They're seeking technology that can transform their month-long verification cycles into days or hours, allowing them to scale lending without proportionally increasing operational costs or compliance risks.
Our Power Focus. We're laser-focused on eliminating the 20% of compliance pain points causing 80% of our power customers' frustrations: repetitive document collection, siloed verification data, and inconsistent standards across regions. ENTITY addresses these through our universal business identifier (ENTITY ID) serving as a "business passport," centralized secure document storage with real-time registry updates, and a future-ready platform architecture. Our partnership with a major financial institution validates our approach, delivering immediate operational efficiencies while positioning clients to seamlessly adapt to evolving compliance requirements.
Coming Soon
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As 100X Fellows we take on a singular goal: to nurture the greatest generation of Filipino startups, powered by transcendent founders, partner VCs, and AI-First.
As 100X Fellows we take on a singular goal: to nurture the greatest generation of Filipino startups, powered by transcendent founders, partner VCs, and AI-First.
We live in unprecedented times. AI is driving breathtaking change (almost daily!), creating massive opportunities at speeds and efficiencies no generation of entrepreneurs and investors have ever seen!
CARLO ALMENDRAL
Founder & CEO, AI FIRST
100X stands for 100X ROI for founders and investors
-- a testament to 100X impact for customers and markets.
This is not your usual unicorn phantasm.
100X is about rigor, process, discipline, the repeatable fundamentals of building up transcendent founders who build transcendent teams who build transcendent products, execution, and culture— while channeling AI for unprecedented speed, efficiency, and scale of impact.
We will look back at these 100-day cycles as the founding of the 100X Filipino OS-- and the birth of the first Filipino unicorns.
Founders sprint 100X milestones in 100-day power cycles, earn preferred access to power investors every 30 Days.
100X DAY 1
Week 1
100X DASHBOARD A-Z
How we apply AI-First to 10X every layer of your build
100X Nuke
Week 2
POWER CUSTOMERS
AI-First for Customer Discovery
Week 3
POWER PAINS
AI-First for Problem Discovery
Week 4
POWER SOLUTIONS
AI-First for Product Development
Week 4
MONTHLY POWER CIRCLE 📍
Investors, Partners, Tech, Talent for Rated 100X Fellows only
Week 5
POWER AI+TECH | BUILD SESSION 1
AI-First for Product Development
Week 6
POWER CHANNELS | LTV | ECONOMICS | BLOCKERS
AI-First for Scalable Business Models
100X Now
Week 7
POWER AI+TECH | BUILD SESSION 2
AI-First for Marketing, Sales, CRM
Week 8
POWER OKRs | VELOCITY | LEARNING
AI-First for Execution + Culture
Week 8
MONTHLY POWER CIRCLE 📍
Investors, Partners, Tech, Talent for Rated 100X Fellows only
Week 9
POWER AI+TECH | BUILD SESSION 3
AI-First for Execution + Culture
Week 10
POWER OKRs | VELOCITY | LEARNING
Power Exicions + Asks
100X Navigation
Week 11
CUSTOMER VS ENTERPRISE VISION
AI-First for Execution + Culture
Week 12
POWER WAZE [NOW TO TAM]
AI-First for Execution + Culture
Week 12
MONTHLY POWER CIRCLE 📍
Investors, Partners, Tech, Talent for Rated 100X Fellows only
Week 13
POWER AI+TECH | BUILD SESSION 4
AI-First for Execution + Culture
Week 14
POWER CENTER
GPS | Team | Partners | Investors | Markets
Click here if you want to 100X as founders, investors, corporates, tech, talent, etc.
VC is the business of investing in people and empowering their inner superhero--that 100X Ethos and OS. In the past decade, we've invested billions PhP in people who make the impossible happen everyday, who create vastly better (100X) tomorrows by building vastly high-performing (100X) teams and culture today.
Are you one of us?
At Ignite House of Innovation, we invest strictly in 100X ventures, a vision and practice we pioneered through rigorous pre- and post-investment disciplines designed to nurture 100X innovations, ROI and market impact. Led by Ignite founder & CEO Andre Yap, we invest in and partner with visionary founders at the earliest stages of their 100X journey. We do our most important work after we write the check, in methodically applying our 100X disciplines to support and accelerate our founders towards their fullest 100X potential. Learn more at https://ignitehouse.vc/.
Kaya Founders is an early stage venture capital firm committed to building, investing, and supporting the next generation of companies driving digital transformation in commerce and critical services in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The firm is led and managed by General Partners, Paulo Campos, Ray Alimurung, Lisa Gokongwei, and Constantin Robertz. Learn more at https://www.kayafounders.com/.
AI FIRST drives a full spectrum of applied AI innovations from our unique perch based in the Philippines serving the world, with a mission to enable organizations and professionals to become "AI-First" (use AI wherever AI can do it better, faster, cheaper). From AI capacity-building (for enterprise, SMEs, and professionals in software, engineering, marketing sales, operations, etc), to full-AI builds covering strategy, architecture, design, engineering, and managing AI solutions that empower our client partners to achieve unrivaled CX/UX, speed, efficiency and cost. We also do venture builds/co-builds where we take equity positions in AI-First ventures. Led by founder & CEO, Carlo Almendral, and co-founder and VC partner, Andre Yap, our mission is to be first when it comes to "AI-First”. Learn more at https://www.aifirst.ph/.
At Ignite House of Innovation, we invest strictly in 100X ventures, a vision and practice we pioneered through rigorous pre- and post-investment disciplines designed to nurture 100X innovations, ROI and market impact. Led by Ignite founder & CEO Andre Yap, we invest in and partner with visionary founders at the earliest stages of their 100X journey. We do our most important work after we write the check, in methodically applying our 100X disciplines to support and accelerate our founders towards their fullest 100X potential. Learn more at https://ignitehouse.vc/.
AI FIRST drives a full spectrum of applied AI innovations from our unique perch based in the Philippines serving the world, with a mission to enable organizations and professionals to become "AI-First" (use AI wherever AI can do it better, faster, cheaper). From AI capacity-building (for enterprise, SMEs, and professionals in software, engineering, marketing sales, operations, etc), to full-AI builds covering strategy, architecture, design, engineering, and managing AI solutions that empower our client partners to achieve unrivaled CX/UX, speed, efficiency and cost. We also do venture builds/co-builds where we take equity positions in AI-First ventures. Led by founder & CEO, Carlo Almendral, and co-founder and VC partner, Andre Yap, our mission is to be first when it comes to "AI-First”. Learn more at https://www.aifirst.ph/.
Kaya Founders is an early stage venture capital firm committed to building, investing, and supporting the next generation of companies driving digital transformation in commerce and critical services in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The firm is led and managed by General Partners, Paulo Campos, Ray Alimurung, Lisa Gokongwei, and Constantin Robertz. Learn more at https://www.kayafounders.com/.
MEET THE 100X FELLOWS
You won’t find a more ready, willing and able gathering of 100X entrepreneurs and investors in the Philippines. Individually, we are super achievers; together as 100X Fellows we will build the greatest generation of Filipino innovations, each in our own space.
Between IGNITE and KAYA, Andre and Paulo bring 2 of the country's most active early-stage VCs joining forces with Carlo’s AI FIRST at the forefront of PH AI implementations, both applications and capacity-building.
Then we hand-picked 30 of the country’s top entrepreneurs: half of them are founders we’re already invested in; others are known builders with deep, formidable domain expertise; and still others are captains of industry, including Global 200 and publicly-listed companies who are building their next big thing.
We all share this in common, the core of our 100X Fellowship: we're each solving important problems for our most important customers, each with a vision and commitment to deliver 100X ROI and impact.
Note: Expanded bios with co-founders and 100X perspectives will be launched throughout April 2025. Our 100-Day Fellowship jumpstarts 29 April 2025.
AI is changing the rules for VCs and founders. The best VCs have to dive in at the earliest stages, get our hands dirty in the builds, so we can grasp and stay ahead of all the disruption AI is driving– weekly! At the same time, we need to be even more obsessed about the never-changing fundamentals: VC is a 100X game and 100X ROI and Impact demands relentless focus, focus, focus, customer, customer, CUSTOMER!!! There’s a rigor and repeatable process to 100X, and that’s what we’re obsessed about operationalizing via our 100X Dashboard. More than ever, everything still starts with great founders– except in the age of AI the definition of a great founder has become more democratic. That’s what 100X PH is. We’ve personally hand-picked an iconoclastic cohort of the very best founders, each an equally obsessed partner in our quest to build the greatest generation of Filipino startups.
AI FIRST is a key piece here. AI FIRST isn’t just our brand. It’s a first-principle way of building every layer of a business (products, services, biz models, ops, customer service, admin, etc) by reducing the most important activities into “workflows” (e.g., products are simply workflows that customers use to get something they need) and using the right AI tech and tools to do the workflows 10 times better, faster, cheaper. AI-FIRST is a call to arms for organizations and professionals to become “AI-First” (use AI wherever AI can do it better, faster, cheaper) in everything they do. Because AI-FIRST is now possible for everyone… if you’re not doing AI-FIRST then you’re sprinting your way into becoming very uncompetitive very fast.
AI is changing the rules for VCs and founders. The best VCs have to dive in at the earliest stages, get our hands dirty in the builds, so we can grasp and stay ahead of all the disruption AI is driving– weekly! At the same time, we need to be even more obsessed about the never-changing fundamentals: VC is a 100X game and 100X ROI and Impact demands relentless focus, focus, focus, customer, customer, CUSTOMER!!! There’s a rigor and repeatable process to 100X, and that’s what we’re obsessed about operationalizing via our 100X Dashboard. More than ever, everything still starts with great founders– except in the age of AI the definition of a great founder has become more democratic. That’s what 100X PH is. We’ve personally hand-picked an iconoclastic cohort of the very best founders, each an equally obsessed partner in our quest to build the greatest generation of Filipino startups.
AI FIRST is a key piece here. AI FIRST isn’t just our brand. It’s a first-principle way of building every layer of a business (products, services, biz models, ops, customer service, admin, etc) by reducing the most important activities into “workflows” (e.g., products are simply workflows that customers use to get something they need) and using the right AI tech and tools to do the workflows 10 times better, faster, cheaper. AI-FIRST is a call to arms for organizations and professionals to become “AI-First” (use AI wherever AI can do it better, faster, cheaper) in everything they do. Because AI-FIRST is now possible for everyone… if you’re not doing AI-FIRST then you’re sprinting your way into becoming very uncompetitive very fast.
🗨️ Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
Senior 100X Fellow
Chairman,
CONCEPCION INDUSTRIES
Home & Office Solutions
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
Senior 100X Fellow
Founder & CEO,
HYBRID SOCIAL
Social Impact & Faith-Driven Enterprise
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
Senior 100X Fellow
CEO, PAYMONGO
Co-Funder, GO TYME
B2B Fintech, Payments
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
AIFirst isn’t just a brand – it’s a mindset; it’s a challenge to change how things are done because every business is up for grabs when you can do something 100x faster, cheaper, and with better quality. Now that AI is within everyone’s reach, clinging to old methods is a dead end.
Expanded Bio Coming Soon
We didn't skip a beat. Started 2024 the way we ended 2023: full throttle on our investment mandate to find and fund 30 of the country’s most ignited founders.
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Q4 2023 saw us pull the trigger on 5 iconic investments and we’re on track to exceed that in 1H 2024 (more on this later, including our 3 key investment criteria and how we’ve expanded our venture capital focus to include steady ships, besides the usual rocket ships).
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In January we broke all records with our biggest Ignite ever. Partnering with Ateneo’s DOST-backed Blue Nest Technology Business Incubator and the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office, we gathered some of Manila’s most badass founders, investors, and CEOs, along with our most promising young professionals and student leaders. For 5+ hours on a chill January afternoon, we ignited on the common ground of Peak Performance and Peak Living in 2024.
More Than VC
Our January highlight was the launch of 5VC FITNESS, a hybrid app, online and face-to-face platform for individuals, teams, and organizations to methodically and measurably grow their 5 Cycles of Virtuous Capital in 3-month sprints.
See how 5VC can power you and your teams to unrivaled growth and performance;
See how you can partner with Ignite to bring 5VC to schools, corporations, SMEs and LGUs all over the country. This is one of our major KPIs in 2024-- to build partnerships (think franchising!) that bring 5VC FITNESS to every corner of Filipino society.
Fund 30 of PH’s Most Ignited
January was also our public unveiling of IGNITE VC 2024: our quest to find and fund 30 of the country’s most Ignited founders, targeting to be the first money in and invest PHP5-10MM per founder in the next 18-24 months.
Here are the 3 most important finds we’re looking to invest in:
1) Founders who are obsessed with solving important problems at scale (where revenue and customers grow much faster and bigger than costs).
2) Founders who are obsessed with customer impact (where everything they do is built around continuously solving customer pains).
3) Founders who are obsessed with being great at execution and culture (because this is how they’re going to keep great people happy and full).
If you’re our kind of founder, we will invest in either of 2 scenarios:
1) Your venture was birthed as a rocket ship (to achieve massive scale within 3-5 years).
2) You’re currently a steady ship that can be transformed into a rocket ship. A steady ship is a solid business that is currently profitable (or can be within the next 6-12 months) and has a great product that delights customers in ways that are important to them.
Rocket ship or steady ship, we invest when we see that our Ignite capital, including our 5VC (5 Cycles of Virtuous Capital) can drive 10-100X++ growth in your venture.
Want to explore an investment from Ignite? Pls message us here and tell us what you have in mind. We’ll pick it up from there.
That’s all for now. Let’s keep igniting.
Andre A. Yap February 2024
Joana Alberto is a CoFounder and Managing Partner of Ignite House of Innovations and Ni2, the National Innovators Initiative to power 100,000 Filipino innovators by 2023. She’s also the Managing Director of the Guild by Ni2, a dedicated team that focuses on career and OJT acceleration of college students and fresh grads at scale. The space that she holds is all about nurturing individuals to drive peak performance by discovering Ignite GPS (Genius, Purpose, Service) our personal navigation system that leads us to fulfill our highest potential, under Ignite Centre for Peak Experiences.
Before joining Ignite, Joana served the aviation industry for almost three decades while thriving in the field of entrepreneurship — from designing and manufacturing her own line of arts and crafts to selling dry goods, managing a flower shop and being an events designer, and never leaving out her social responsibility via community service. She was never content with just being employed.
“I’ve had many twists and turns in a career that has brought me to hundreds of cities all over the world, first as a flight attendant and cabin manager, then in HQ. After 27 years in aviation, I clipped my wings, and packed the manuscript that I worked on for 4 years entitled, #Metamorphosis: The Ultimate Makeover Manual for 40-Year Olds and Beyond, along with my certifications on wellness coaching and various healing modalities. In a matter of months, I went from wearing two hats in the airline, managing inflight performance while designing and delivering leadership programs to 120 nationalities, to leaving all that and holing up in India for a month – to learn yoga, find myself, reinvent my future.”
I was 47 then, a wife and mother who had spent the best years of my life flying in and out of my family’s life. I had been an expat for so long. I was finally coming home to Manila with a new career in corporate wellness. I thought that was it, my final chapter, time to get settled before entering my golden era.
But no.
A wise friend once asked me… Joana, you’ve been in a perfect storm! You’re an extreme empath and you’ve met, served and managed so many more people from so many more countries in 27 years than most people do in 3 lifetimes: those dreams and pains and wants of so many people must have a way of sticking on you, haunting you, no?
Yes, exactly; they’ve haunted me.“
Before I jumped into corporate, I designed a program for Filipina overseas workers – for people and pain I know so well. I designed a 6-month journey that would help them create their Dream Life Masterplan. I included all the right things I did and didn’t do, all the research and study, trial and error, consulting friends and experts, and sleepless nights in search for my truth. So OFWs long separated from their families can speed up their coming home — prepared. Well, my Dream Life Masterplan never reached a single soul. My intention was pure and noble. But I was alone for a huge mission.
Fast forward to 2017. A friend invited me to an Ignite gathering and I was never the same again. I found my space, found my missing pieces, found my partners and team. And I found the Ignite GPS: Genius, Purpose, Service. It was my finally embracing my own GPS that really put me on a new journey and challenge: to take care of people beyond wellness, so they can be whole – so they can live their deepest truth and so fulfill their highest potential and greatest promise. That’s what I found in the Ignite GPS.
Today, Joana is leading a team of Gen Z’s to launch a human + app coached program to help colleges students find clarity in their life-career direction. She also just launched the pilot project of her startup —which partners with farm owners to create viable and sustainable ventures that support agri-eco tourism, farm based co-creation opportunities, tech guided wellness experiences and socio-economic development initiatives. At the rate she’s going, nothing can stop her from founding more winning innovations in the next coming years. A genuine Iska — a graduate of the University of the Philippines, her mission no doubt is to make an impact on the lives of her kabayans, dreaming to make her country a better place.
Andre Yap is the founder and CEO of Ignite House of Innovation, which invests and operates in venture capital, technology, media, education, healthcare, energy, hospitality, food, agri, HR and enterprise solutions.
Andre also serves as Executive Chairman of Ni2, The Philippines’ National Innovators Initiative to power 100,000 Filipino Innovators across key sectors of society. Ni2 is a public-private partnership with national and local governments, business and non-profit organizations, and the academe.
As a serial founder and startup investor, Andre built Ignite House to be an innovator for innovators – to R&D, build, operate and continuously invest in proprietary systems, platforms, programs and technologies in order to nurture, scale and sustain innovation capabilities, open collaborations and disruptive opportunities uniting key sectors of society (business, education, socio-civic, government, startups, investors), with the vision of establishing the Filipino as a uniquely disruptive force in global innovation.
Ignite’s mission is deeply personal to Andre: to build and invest in transcendent ventures by building up and investing in transcendent founders and teams, advancing his core belief that innovation is the business (i.e., building sustainable operating models) of solving society’s wicked problems. In 2018 Andre authored the Ignite Manifesto and has relentlessly pushed its growth as an Operating System that has helped thousands of individuals and teams channel deeply personal GPS (Genius, Purpose, Service) into shared Mission and Collaboration, into Innovation and Impact.
Andre was born and raised in Manila and educated by the Jesuits and the Opus Dei, before moving onto the US, where he earned 3 degrees (Yale, Fordham, NYU) and lived for 15 years. In 2009, based on his pioneering work with CUBED (“Cube Ed”), the Center for University-Based Enterprise & Development, which Andre founded as an innovation accelerator and ecosystem in the state of Connecticut, the US Government granted Andre the status of Permanent Resident on the Basis of Exceptional Ability in the National Interest of the United States of America.
Nevertheless, Andre’s heart remains fully in the Philippines, where he wants to do his best work and most meaningful impact. He has called Manila home again since 2011, when he moved back with his wife and their 2 dazzling boys.
“I’ve pursued my career as a series of ventures and adventures… it’s a path that doesn’t look or feel like any other, that rarely ever really feels like work… precisely by challenging established norms, relentlessly going out of my box and into many other boxes, appreciating how seemingly disparate realities tie together, threading constellations where others barely even see the dots.”
From choosing Yale for its public-private management focus and then following it up with a second Masters in Interactive Marketing at NYU; to deciding against the post-MBA rush into investment banking or management consulting so that I can start the YGroupe and really understand the leverage in my New York, New Haven, Manila connections; to starting CUBED despite my perfectly zero knowledge of tech, incubators or the academe; to choosing to come home to Manila despite CUBED’s success and the US government’s offer of Permanent Residence; to the long and winding road of ventures, investments and partnerships that have now led to the National Innovators Initiative and cross-sector collaborations, not just across industries, but tying together national and local governments and hundreds of schools and MSMEs. I’ve really enjoyed the thrill of going into frontier space that I know nothing about, that no one knows anything about, and making sense and structure out of all that chaos and ambiguity – building value, outcomes, impact where nothing but deep need existed.
“Innovation: that’s what many people call it. For me, I see myself as an artist no less than Da Vinci or Picasso – business is my canvas and if I’m honest and brave there is no other way to paint but my way. Above all, I see innovation as my humbling participation in God’s ongoing work of creation – to help make things new and better all the time and to share that fire and capacity for renewal with everyone I meet. As we say, to ignite all we touch to live their deepest truth and so fulfill their highest potential and greatest promise— for joy, meaning, success, and impact; a life fully-lived.”