Out of this world

• 500-backed Atomionics, a startup that builds quantum sensors for navigation and resource exploration, has been selected for the Hyperspace Challenge accelerator in the U.S.
• The accelerator is funded by the U.S. Space Force and has been running annual competitions since 2018.
• It will compete with 12 other startups and 11 university teams at a virtual event on December 2. Finalists with the most viable technologies will be awarded US$100,000 in prize money.
• One of the areas that the U.S. Space Force is interested in is the military application of quantum sensing for location and electromagnetic field detection.
• Read the full article here.

Building a community

• 500-backed YAS MicroInsurance, part of FoundersHK’s first batch, pitched at its equity-free accelerator program aimed at helping Hong Kong startups raise funding and scale globally.
• FoundersHK started as an events and mentoring network and was created to strengthen Hong Kong’s startup community.
• YAS, chosen from a pool of 150 applicants, was among 11 startups that pitched an audience of about 500 mentors and investors.
• According to YAS, it now has US$800,000 in committed revenue. It shared that about 6,300 policies were activated over the past couple of months. It currently activates about 600 new policies per week. The startup also recently announced it has opened an office in Malaysia.
• Read the full story on TechCrunch here.

Startups on the rise

• LinkedIn has released its list of Top Startups 2021 featuring 15 young, emerging companies in Singapore.
• Two 500-backed startups, on-demand healthcare platform Homage and proptech startup 99.co made the list.
• According to Crunchbase, Homage and 99.co has raised US$45.2 million and US$33.1 million of funding in total, respectively.
• In putting together the rankings, LinkedIn looked at four areas: employee growth, jobseeker interest, member engagement with the company and its employees, and how well these startups pulled talent from its flagship LinkedIn Top Companies List.
• Check out the LinkedIn list here.