Entrepreneurs launch initiative for enterprising business folk

Tune Labs will formalise a partnership among the founders, who have nurtured and brought to market disruptive businesses such as AirAsia, Tune Hotels, Tune Insurance and Tune Money.
They will now turn to supporting aspiring entrepreneurs in achieving their visions of creating market-leading, innovative businesses with a particular focus on the travel, payments and retail verticals.
Tune Labs offers two distinct paths for applicants to develop and cultivate their ideas: incubator and accelerator programmes.
The incubator programme will be conducted thrice yearly – a 12-week boot camp for applicants with not-yet-validated, early-stage ideas.
Successful applicants will be offered the opportunity to work closely with the founders and their partners to develop and validate their ideas and establish viable, commercial propositions with a view to showcasing their products at a demonstration day at the end of the programme.
The accelerator programme takes validated ideas and business plans – which may also include graduates from the incubator programme – and expedites entry into the market through access to capital and partnerships sourced and introduced by the founders.
All participants will have access to partnerships developed over the years by the founders, the established infrastructure and support system of Tune Group and the ability to leverage in-house technical and software development capabilities for both the incubator and accelerator programmes.
 The investment team at Tune Labs will be helmed by Arun Verma and Gareth Lim, experienced members of the Tune Group and AirAsia, with a significant track record in developing and delivering innovative new ventures.
Fernandes said last week that it had always been a personal goal of his to promote and grow the start-up scene in Asean.
“There is a lot of talent in the region which, to date, has lacked the access and opportunities that are readily available to budding entrepreneurs in the West.
“Through Tune Labs, my partners and I seek to provide the guidance and mentorship that we found |hard to come by in the early days of building AirAsia and envisage a structured environment to encourage, validate and ultimately implement exciting, new ideas that will hopefully revolutionise and change the way we go about our everyday lives.”
Meranun said a key obstacle to many new businesses is the difficulty or inability to raise capital in order to access markets and achieve growth.
“As such, my partners and I are committed to seed, nurture and develop the initial opportunities |that will be housed under the venture.
“Our comprehensive network of partners and investors cultivated over the years and supported by our track record will also allow Tune Labs’ participants easier access to further funds to catalyse growth.”
 Lim said Tune Labs allows aspiring entrepreneurs to concentrate solely on developing and growing their ideas.
“The ability to utilise the wider group’s assets coupled with essentials like office space, finance and legal will significantly reduce costs and improve management focus.
“Tune Labs’ advisory panel will consist of experts from various backgrounds to provide guidance across diverse fields.
“It is a fundamental objective of Tune Labs to aid entrepreneurs to reduce the time and costs needed in bringing to market an innovative new product.”
 Information on Tune Labs and how to apply for entry into the incubator and accelerator programmes is available at www.thetunelabs.com.
Applications from committed and passionate entrepreneurs are welcome from across the growth spectrum from early stage seed to growth capital.
The initial cohort is expected |to commence in the second half of this year.