SINGAPORE, 12 January 2021 – SGX mainboard‐listed Excelpoint Technology Ltd (“Excelpoint” or “the Group”) is pleased to announce that its entrepreneurial and strategic investment arm, Planetspark Pte. Ltd. (“PlanetSpark”), has officially launched a hardware accelerator platform, PlanetSpark Innovation Centre, dedicated to supporting Singapore tech startups speed up market deployment of their Artificial Intelligence of Things (“AIoT”) innovations.

PlanetSpark Innovation Centre, situated at Changi Business Park, is officially opened today by Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing. The new centre will bring together innovators, hardware and software providers, venture capitalists, small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”), manufacturers and potential customers, providing a one‐stop ecosystem to help startups develop their AIoT solutions.

Supported by Enterprise Singapore and backed by Excelpoint, PlanetSpark Innovation Centre will invest an initial S$5 million for its R&D expansion and development of technology platforms so that technopreneurs are able to integrate their hardware innovation to develop solutions based on real world problem statements. This will allow them to make a fluid transition from proof‐of-concept to production and commercialisation.

With the Group’s vast industry networks of semiconductor manufacturers, sales channel partners and design engineering capabilities in the Asia Pacific region, Excelpoint is in a strong position to enable startups to expedite product development and optimise system‐level integration for rapid prototyping, thereby reducing their time, costs and risks in bringing their solutions to market.

For the upcoming pilot run of PlanetSpark Innovation Centre’s accelerator programme, there will be a line‐up of five startups and they are developing market‐deployable solutions in thermal sensing, facial recognition, satellite tracking and edge AI analytics.

The Innovation Centre will be headed by Ms Phuay Li Ying, who has been looking after Excelpoint’s corporate and strategic development for over 6 years.

Ms. Phuay Li Ying, Managing Director of PlanetSpark, said, “Through my work at Excelpoint, I see many Singapore hardware startups face challenges in accessing technologies from industry leaders, gaining market knowledge and finding channels to enter the regional market.

This is a gap that PlanetSpark Innovation Centre aims to bridge by leveraging on the strengths of Excelpoint and working closely with company founders to develop and integrate their AI and IoT technology and innovations in a way that is customer‐centric and scalable.

PlanetSpark’s role as a technology validator will also provide an indication of the potential of the startups for venture capital firms. Our ultimate objective is to have a collaborative hardware ecosystem where such startups can accelerate their growth and commercialisation plans, attract venture capital funding and create new possibilities for technology innovations and economic growth.”

Mr. Albert Phuay Yong Hen, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Excelpoint, commented, “In the fast‐evolving electronics industry, speed to market is key and Excelpoint has always placed our focus on value‐adding to our partners. We have built strong relationships with our partners and invested in strengthening our technical capabilities for over 30 years. With PlanetSpark, we are taking our value‐add to the next level.

Excelpoint is honoured to have the strong support from Enterprise Singapore to groom the next generation of technopreneurs at PlanetSpark Innovation Centre. This innovation centre is also an investment we made to nurture Singapore‐grown technology talents and bring our Singapore pride to the globe.

Given the huge market potential of the AIoT market, we have identified this emerging segment as Excelpoint’s new strategic business focus. We look forward to collaborating with leaders in the semiconductor technology ecosystem to capture new opportunities together. I believe these partnerships will strengthen Excelpoint’s positioning in the supply chain.”