24 start-ups, eight episodes, five months of production, three rounds of elimination, one goal: to be awarded part of up to one million in seed money. Witness this epic battle of ideas when The Big Spark premieres at 7pm (4pm Delhi, 6pm Jakarta) on Friday, 2nd February, on CNA.

This journey started in October last year when Mediacorp issued a call for start-ups to sign up for the business reality TV series. Submissions came in from all across Asia from start-ups eager to bring their ideas to life with the prize of seed funding of up to one million dollars.

Applicants underwent numerous rounds of interviews, background checks, and independent appraisals before The Big Spark finalised a list of 24 start-ups.

These start-ups will be assessed by two resident judges, both successful entrepreneurs in their own right. Lim Wai Mun, founder and CEO of Doctor Anywhere, a tech-driven healthcare company, and Roshni Mahtani-Cheung, the group CEO and founder of Parentinc, a parent-tech company.

Together with guest judges for each episode, including various industry stalwarts, these judges will evaluate the potential of each start-up’s idea and decide if awarding them the seed money will take their business to the next level.

Each start-up will face three rounds of assessment: The first round  is “The Quick Pitch,” where they have two minutes to pitch their ideas to the resident judges and a guest judge. Three “nos” will mean elimination; they need just one “yes” to proceed to the next round. This rigorous process will whittle the start-ups down to 15.

These companies will then participate in a series of masterclasses where resident judges and experts will provide specialist help to shape the viability of their ideas and refine their pitches.

This leads to the next round, “The In-Depth Pitch,” where each start-up will have 10 minutes to elaborate on their business propositions while facing scrutiny from resident and guest judges.

Industry opinions are valued in this process, as venture capitalists form part of an advisory panel. They will communicate their views on each start-up to resident judges Wai Mun and Roshni, who will ultimately decide on the four to eight contenders that advance to the finals.

“The Big Pitch” sees the final set of chosen start-ups pitch to an invited audience and a panel of eight venture capitalists. Using insights gained from the various rounds of assessment throughout the season, from business models to the personalities of the founders, they will award different amounts of investments to the deserving start-ups.

Catch The Big Spark premiere on Friday 2, 7pm with new episodes every Friday on CNA.
Alternatively you can watch it on The Big Spark microsite.