Speech by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information at the Smart Nations Innovations, innovfest unbound 2017, Marina Bay Sands, 3 May 2017

For example, Vikram Mengi, co-founder of data analytics company Latize, has always found it a challenge to get decision makers to spend time understanding their product before they were accredited. After getting accredited, Vikram said that it has become much easier to do so. Vikram and his team was also able to close their first funding round much faster, as investors relied on IMDA’s Accreditation evaluation for their technical due diligence. The success of their fund raising, coupled with the track record they have built through the Accreditation process, has helped them to expand and establish their first overseas offices in Sydney & Perth; they have since won two projects in Australia. To date, Accreditation has accredited 17 companies. Accreditation will continue to help promising enterprises like Latize grow and internationalise.