Xero, the global small business platform, has announced the four Singapore businesses and non-profit organisations that have won a share of the US$620,000 global prize pool as a part of the inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund.
Launched earlier this year, the Xero Beautiful Business Fund seeks to help Xero’s small business customers boost their growth plans and drive future success. More than 5,500 applications were received from Xero customers across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Twenty-four regional winners along with four global winners were recognised for best demonstrating how they would use the funding to support their future business goals in one of four categories – Innovating for sustainability, Strengthening community connection, Trailblazing with technology and Upskilling for the future.
Regional winners will receive US$15,000 with global winners receiving an additional US$40,000 each.
Koren Wines, managing director of Xero Asia said: “We’re incredibly excited to introduce the Xero Beautiful Business Fund, which will help Singapore’s small businesses achieve their ambitions. Our reason for being at Xero, is to make life better for people in small businesses, their advisors and communities around the world. We created this fund to support our customers, accelerate their growth and empower them to succeed.”
“As part of the judging panel, I was incredibly humbled and inspired by all of the submissions and the phenomenal things that Xero’s small business customers are doing in Asia’s most competitive environment and within a challenging economy. A huge congratulations to all of our Singapore winners, so well deserved.”
Strengthening Community Connection
Art Outreach Singapore, a non-profit arts intermediary with an Institution of Public Character (IPC) status, is the Singapore winner in the ‘Strengthening community connection’ category. Art Outreach Singapore promotes access to art education in schools, for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the wider community with the aim of improving art literacy and critical thinking. The prize will fund one year’s worth of utilities and two months of rent for the charity, freeing-up funds to to serve 300 more kids from through art workshops.
Mae Anderson, Chairman of Art Outreach Singapore said: “Art Outreach extends heartfelt gratitude to Xero for this esteemed recognition. As a small non-profit organisation, this funding and the accompanying support are invaluable. The award not only validates our mission but also provides crucial resources, empowering us to expand our outreach and impact, nurturing a more vibrant and connected artistic community.”
Innovating for Sustainability
Style Theory, a fashion rental platform currently operating in Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, has won the ‘Innovating for sustainability’ category in Singapore. Style Theory envisions a fashion future that is smarter and kinder to the environment, and has facilitated more than 2.3 million fashion rentals, leading to more than 600,000 pieces of clothing saved from landfills. Style Theory’s next step is to scale up its Fashion Sustainability Programme which allows brands to facilitate rentals on their platform. With their award, Style Theory will accelerate the programme’s efficiency by automating and streamlining its online monitoring and reporting processes.
Raena Lim, Co-Founder & COO at Style Theory said: “Thank you Xero team for the funding and recognition for Style Theory’s mission in making fashion sustainable through renting. Xero’s efforts in supporting businesses to become more environmentally friendly will create a positive ripple effect in the fashion scene as we partner with more designer brands to build up the fashion sustainability community.”
Trailblazing with Technology
Oysterly, the Singapore winner in the ‘Trailblazing with technology’ category, is a social media marketing agency specialising in helping businesses grow through user-generated content storytelling on TikTok. Oysterly engages content creators from around the world to produce content, which requires a manual process of vetting video content for mistakes like typos and misaligned captions. Xero’s funds will help Oysterly reduce human error and speed up the quality control process with the creation of an artificial intelligence (AI) video tool that allows content creators to receive feedback almost instantly.
“Oysterly is a unique agency that goes beyond the ordinary to elevate brands. Receiving this prize money will enable us to create a system for faster video production and leverage TikTok’s viral trends to benefit our clients. We strongly believe that when you unlock the power of social media, the world can be your Oyster. You just have to take the right steps to get going!” said Melissa Laurie, founder and managing director of Oysterly.
Upskilling for the Future
Oriental Remedies Clinic combines Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and cutting-edge technology to improve the well-being of its patients. The Singapore winner in the ‘Upskilling for the future’ category makes TCM accessible and understandable by upskilling its staff through personalised training, daily bite-sized briefs, and adopting new technologies like a tongue analysis AI tool that diagnoses a patient’s health issues. With Xero’s funds, the clinic will further empower its staff by hiring more trainers and building a knowledge management system.
“We are very thankful to win the 2023 Xero Beautiful Business Fund in the Upskilling for the Future category,” said Beatrice Liu-Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Oriental Remedies Group. “By using Xero, we have become more efficient and can better focus on our priorities – our employees and patients. We are excited to have Xero’s partnership as we create a brighter, more beautiful future for our team, our patients and our community.”
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Xero CEO, said: “Congratulations to our amazing Xero Beautiful Business Fund winners. Judging the entries was a wonderful reminder of who our customers are – passionate people who are dedicated to solving problems and making a positive impact in their communities – and I want to thank all of the judges who helped us select the winners.”
The Xero Beautiful Business Fund was first announced during Xero Day, Xero’s founding day celebrations, on 6 July this year. Applications opened on 23 August and ran for six weeks, closing 6 October. To enter, applicants needed to submit a 90-second pitch video sharing details of their business, the category they were applying in and their plans to use the funding.
Regional winners were chosen by a regional judging panel composed of local business and industry leaders, Xero accounting and bookkeeping partners and Xero employees, for a total of 28 winners. A global judging panel made up of global business and industry leaders, technology experts and Xero executives, then selected one global winner in each category from the 28 regional winners.
For more information and to learn about the winners, visit xero.com/beautiful-business-fund
