TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — International tech startups are finding their way into the Taiwan market with help from the non-profit startup incubator Garage+.

Ken Law is the CEO of PowerArena, a Hong Kong-based company using AI to monitor tech and automotive production sites, and he participated in a Garage+ startup accelerator program in 2018. He said the eight-day program helped him build his list of business contacts from nothing to now employing about 20 people in Taiwan.

Law recently joined Garage+ Director May Yang at the Startup Island Taiwan Podcast with host Uly Su to discuss the relevance of Taiwan to tech startups globally.

Garage+ is the only overseas incubator partner of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence lab, according to Yang, and has facilitated more than 400 startups with 75% successfully securing funding. Yang said that the main goal of the startup accelerator programs is to support entrepreneurs to discover businesses, investors, and markets in Asia.

During the eight-day course, Garage+ arranges one on one meetings between business partners, investors, and entrepreneurs. “We think (that’s) a very efficient way for startups to directly talk with their potential partners, buyers, or investors,” Yang said.

She said for Law, his one-week program saw him attending 14 one on one meetings. “It was very intensive,” Yang said.

After the course is complete, Yang said Garage+ continues to provide startups with support they need to gain a foothold in Taiwan. When Law recruited his first staff in Taiwan, they were able to work at Garage+ headquarters free for three months, a perk offered to all of the programs’ participants.

Garage+ also provides extra exposure for startups after the program is over, said Yang. “When we held our MIT bi-annual symposium in 2019, our topic was related to AI, so we invited (Law) to speak and share his business in front of three hundred corporations and top executives,” she said.

Law said he has joined many startup accelerator programs, but that the Garage+ program was useful because of the focus on building connections rather than just raising funds. “I think sometimes there are things that are more important than money, (such as) important business relationships, and I think Garage+ helped us a lot with that aspect.”