ConnectingDNA was selected for the BLOCK71 Silicon Valley Market Exploration Program, an NUS Enterprise initiative.
SINGAPORE, 25 November 2024. ConnectingDNA has completed the BLOCK71 Silicon Valley Market Exploration Program (MXP), Fall 2024 cohort, the programme’s first. It ran from 28 October to 22 November 2024: two weeks of virtual workshops and mentoring, then two weeks in Silicon Valley pitching to investors and meeting customers and partners.
It is ConnectingDNA’s second BLOCK71 programme of 2024, after the Gen AI Accelerate Programme with Microsoft and NUS in April.
What BLOCK71 Silicon Valley is
BLOCK71 Silicon Valley is the Bay Area hub of NUS Enterprise, opened in San Mateo on 16 November 2023 by Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong, NUS News reported. It is one node of BLOCK71, a network of 11 locations in six countries that has supported more than 1,600 start-ups since 2011.
“This Silicon Valley office serves as a launchpad for Singapore entrepreneurs and innovators to build ties with the startup community here.”
Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry, at the hub’s opening
The inaugural cohort
The programme’s final week included Insight Exchange, a venture forum BLOCK71 Silicon Valley hosted with Singapore Global Network, where four venture capitalists, from LG Nova, Transform Capital, Singtel Innov8 Ventures and Okta Ventures, gave founders feedback on their pitches in front of the room.
Why Silicon Valley?
Silicon Valley concentrates the investors, customers and mentors for consumer technology built on AI, which is what ConnectingDNA is building, with health at its edge. A structured programme puts a Singapore start-up in front of people who see hundreds of such companies a year, and their questions test the DNA-Wellness model faster than a remote pitch can. The company went to learn what the US market asks of a genetics product before deciding how, or whether, to enter it.
Six months of support
BLOCK71 Silicon Valley supports the cohort for six months after the demo day, to June 2025.
A market visit earns its cost in the months after it, when the introductions are followed up.
What DNA-Wellness means
DNA-Wellness uses insights from your DNA to help personalise how you eat, exercise, sleep, recover and live. Understand what makes your body different, make smarter wellness choices, and discover what may work better for you.
