Stripe partnered with SeedPlus, Jungle Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, General Assembly and 500 Startups to publish new research into the Singapore Startup Stack: the ecosystem of cloud-based software making it easier, cheaper and faster than ever for startups in Singapore to launch and scale globally. Join in on the conversation on Twitter using #SGStartupStack

1. Singapore #StartupStack

2. J O I N T R E S E A R C H I N T O T H E F A C T O R S D R I V I N G
T H E R E M A R K A B L E R I S E O F S I N G A P O R E ’ S
S T A R T U P C O M M U N I T Y

3. Stripe conducted a survey in February 2017, in
partnership with SeedPlus, Jungle Ventures, Golden Gate
Ventures, General Assembly and 500 Startups.
R E S E A R C H B A C K G R O U N D
235 responses from startups were collected, with more than
half (55%) coming from founders and co-founders. Most
respondents were from early-stage startups (70%), almost half
of which (48%) employed five or fewer staff.

4. Today, Singaporean startups are born global and
scaling internationally faster than ever.
60%
of Singaporean startups
sell internationally today.
Of those who aren’t currently
selling abroad, almost half
(49%) intend to go global
within the next year.
More than a third (35%) of
startups launched within the
past year are already selling
internationally.
60% 49% 35%
Yet, only 36% of startups believe that they could have started their businesses from
Singapore as little as five years ago.

5. What’s powering the
growth of Singapore’s
startup economy?
T H E S I N G A P O R E # S T A R T U P S T A C K

6. T H E S I N G A P O R E S T A R T U P S T A C K
An ecosystem of cloud-based
software that is enabling Singaporean
startups to scale on a pay-as-you-
grow basis.

7. A total of 157 tools are used across 10 business functions. Almost two-thirds of
startups (63%) use 6 or more tools to run their businesses.
W H A T T O O L S M A K E U P T H E S I N G A P O R E
S T A R T U P S T A C K ?
A C C O U N T I N G A N A L Y T I C S
C U S T O M E R S U P P O R T C O D E R E P O S I T O R I E S

8. C R M C Y B E R S E C U R I T Y
H O S T I N G A N D D A T A S T O R A G E H U M A N R E S O U R C E S
M O B I L E A N D W E B P A Y M E N T S T E A M C O L L A B O R A T I O N & C O M M U N I C A T I O N

9. S T A R T U P S N O L O N G E R N E E D T O R E I N V E N T T H E
W H E E L
By automating some of the most resource-intensive parts of building a
business, the “startup stack” is helping entrepreneurs reallocate engineering
time and focus on their core product:
Less than 12% have
built their own servers
or data storage.
Less than 10% have built
their own payments
infrastructure.
Less than 9% have
built their own team
communication tools.
Less than 8% have built
their own security and
anti-fraud systems.
12% 10% 9% 8%

10. At GovTech, we are focused on building and
scaling projects, while keeping a small, efficient
team. This approach has allowed us to move
quickly to launch new services to meet
Singapore’s needs, such as Parking.sg and
Beeline. Using cloud services allows us to stop
wasting time on solved problems, and instead
focus on delivering our actual value.
L I H O N G Y I , D E P U T Y D I R E C T O R , P R O D U C T
& E N G I N E E R I N G T E A M , G O V T E C H

11. T H E S E T O O L S M A K E I T F A S T E R A N D E A S I E R T O S T A R T
A N D S C A L E A T E C H B U S I N E S S T H A N E V E R B E F O R E
94% of startups believe
cloud tools make it
quicker to go global from
Singapore.
97% 94% 93%
0
25
50
75
100
97% of startups believe
cloud tools have made it
easier to launch a tech
startup in Singapore.
93% believe these tools
make it cheaper.

12. Digital tools are redefining entrepreneurship in
Singapore. From eCommerce tools like Shopify and
WooCommerce to payments and accounting
software like Stripe and Xero, user-friendly cloud
software has made it easy to run a business with
only a small team—or no team at all. At TradeGecko,
we rely on many such online tools to power our
international growth and global team collaboration.
C A M E R O N P R I E S T , C O - F O U N D E R & C E O ,
T R A D E G E C K O

13. U N B U N D L I N G T R A D E G E C K O ’ S S T A C K
Mobile and web
payments
Analytics
Hiring Customer messagingSubscriptions
Hosting Help desk Accounting
Team collaboration and
communication
Human resources Sales CRM
Marketing CRM Design collaboration Accounting

14. H O W E L S E A R E T H E S E T O O L S H E L P I N G
S I N G A P O R E A N S T A R T U P S ?
Increased
productivity
Easier to work
remotely as a team
Reduced overall
operating costs
Quicker product
development
70% 63% 55% 48%

15. The top five most used tools by Singapore startups:
T H E N E W S T A N D A R D
C O M M U N I C A T I O N
H O S T I N G C O D E
A N A L Y T I C SP A Y M E N T S

16. W H A T D O S T A R T U P S L O O K F O R I N T O O L S ?
Affordability Ease of
integration
Reliability Scalability Interoperability
between tools
78% 72%
57%
47% 46%
0
25
50
75
100
125

17. Technology plays a key role in our mission to
provide an easy way for the elderly and loved ones
to get and manage care. Thanks to tools like AWS,
Stripe and Twilio, we’ve been able to create a
frictionless experience for our users. Cloud-based
tools like these are defining the future of every
industry, and have certainly been key to our growth
in Singapore.
G I L L I A N T E E , C O - F O U N D E R A N D C E O ,
H O M A G E

18. T H E Y ’ R E A L S O H E L P I N G T O C R E A T E A F E R T I L E
C L I M A T E F O R E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P .
56% 54%
43% 34% 27%
0
25
50
75
100
The growth of the
local startup
community
Increased access
to funding
Strong
government
support
Higher smartphone
penetration
1 in 4 startups listed the ability to outsource non-core business and tech
functions as a key factor making launching a business easier today.
Startups said the following factors were also helping to stimulate the
startup ecosystem in Singapore:
The growth of
ecommerce

19. T H I S E N V I R O N M E N T I S M A K I N G S T A R T U P S
I N S I N G A P O R E M O R E C O N F I D E N T A B O U T
T H E F U T U R E
More than half (52%) of startups believe that
Singapore’s startup ecosystem will continue to expand
rapidly, making it one of the world’s top 3 startup hubs
by 2020.

20. Singapore #StartupStack