March 7, 2013

Singapore Telecommunications has partnered with software provider Amdocs to open its first development center in Israel, which should help local blue-and-white startups get a better foothold in Asia.

SingTel L!feLabs @ Israel with Amdocs is the first such collaboration in Israel by a service provider from Asia Pacific and will serve as a gateway for local start-ups into the fastest-growing region in the world.

Three years ago, Amdocs partnered with AT&T to launch an innovation center which enables Israeli companies to develop products and solutions with Amdocs for the US telecommunications giant.

Similarly, Asia’s leading communications group said the new center will focus on reaching out to the local community of entrepreneurs to develop capabilities in key areas as well as conduct proof of concepts and the eventual commercialization of innovative technologies, products and services in the 26 countries where the SingTel Group operates.

Last year, SingTel bought Israeli mobile ad company Amobee, and in the past has invested in mobile-focused startups Everything.me and Moment.me.

“We have been extremely satisfied with the wealth of talent in Israel. We experienced this through our recently acquired global mobile advertising company Amobee which has a technology center in Israel, as well as through our venture capital investments in two Israeli companies in the mobile Internet business. This has propelled us to open this new development center to scout for new growth engines for SingTel,” said Allen Lew, Chief Executive Officer of Group Digital L!fe, SingTel.

“We believe that this innovation and development center is a win-win-win opportunity which will benefit all those involved: the SingTel Group, Amdocs and young Israeli companies and start-ups,” said Eli Gelman, chief executive officer of Amdocs Management.

In addition to the development center, SingTel will invest in three key areas in Israel: Investment in young Israeli start-up companies; working with Israeli academic or research institutes by funding studies conducted by the country’s universities or working on ideas created in such institutions; and working with incubators and the angel community to look for interesting business and technology ideas from Israel.

“We are embedding ourselves in one of the leading innovation hubs of the world. We are committed to engaging the local innovation community. Our financial investment in Israel will be determined according to the value of projects. In SingTel, we have a corporate venture fund of S$200 million. Part of this fund will also reach Israel,” said Lew.

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