By Application · 12-Month Renewable Fellowship

Transfong Fellowship Programme Intern with International Tech Startups.

A 12-month fellowship for high school and university students planning to study overseas. We train you in how the global tech world works, then place you into 2–3 internships with international tech startups from our network — so you graduate with genuine experience, work you can show, and a profile that stands out in university applications.

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2–3
Internships per fellowship year
200+
Tech startups we support every year
12
Months of mentorship, renewable by invitation
Why Join

Beyond School, Beyond Big Names.

Thousands of applicants show the same grades and the same big-brand internships — where the logo shines and the intern disappears. Inside an international tech startup, the work is unmistakably yours: niche, real, at the frontier — and it's you who shines.

1
school

2-WeekBootcamp

Learn the Frontier

4–5 small-group online sessions over two weeks on what's really happening in AI, robotics, and IoT — how startups build, fund, and scale. Taught by venture builders, not textbooks.

2
rocket_launch

2–3 InternshipPlacements

Work Where It's Happening

2–3 internships with international tech startups over your fellowship year — real projects, real deliverables, side by side with founders. Experience no classroom or competition can give.

3
trending_up

Enhance YourProfile

Stand Out, Genuinely

Graduate with what admissions officers rarely see: verifiable work at the tech frontier, referral letters from founders, and a story that is entirely your own.

Your Mentors

The bootcamp is taught and mentored by Transfong's leaders and innovation partners — practitioners who have built, invested in, and scaled technology businesses across Singapore, China, and beyond.

Dr. Li Wei

Dr. Li Wei

Co-founder & CEO, Transfong Ventures

Programme Director of NTU's iSGP corporate training programme; former member of the technology commercialization team at A*STAR. B.Eng & Ph.D. in Microelectronics (NTU); MBA (INSEAD).

Tyler Huang

Tyler Huang

Co-founder & COO, Transfong Ventures

Former senior technology executive at NXP Semiconductors. Master's in Technology Management (NUS); dual bachelor's in Electronic Engineering and English (UESTC).

Zhang Rui

Zhang Rui

Venture Partner, Transfong Ventures

Co-founder of Yunhaiyao (云海肴); Vice President of the Tsinghua SEM Alumni Association; advisor to SUTD's S.M.A.R.T entrepreneurship programme. Master's (Tsinghua SEM); visiting scholar in innovation at Yale School of Management.

Dr. Shirley Yao

Dr. Shirley Yao

Venture Partner, Transfong Ventures

Industry mentor at NTU; former head of key accounts, Google APAC international growth team; mentor at Google's startup accelerator. Bachelor's, master's & Ph.D. from Peking University.

Selected Internship Opportunities

Our Founders and Startups.

Every year we support 200+ international tech startups — and Fellows join Transfong's support team and intern inside companies like these, led by founders with world-class credentials.

biotech

Trisafe Biotech

Biotech · A*STAR-backed
Founder
Dr. Yang

Fellow of the Singapore Academy of Engineering and US AIMBE; global leader in antimicrobial materials.

Trisafe Biotech

Biotech · A*STAR-backed
Vision

A world that outpaces antibiotic resistance.

Trisafe develops antibacterial, antiviral and anti-infection technologies to tackle the global antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) crisis. Its Polyionene and peptide platforms power antimicrobial skincare, medical disinfection and agricultural applications. Backed by A*STAR, the National Skin Centre and Temasek Foundation.

visibility

Plano

HealthTech · Eye Care
Founder
Prof. Wong

President's Science Award winner; 1,000+ papers; founding dean of Tsinghua Medicine.

Plano

HealthTech · Eye Care
Vision

A generation growing up free from preventable myopia.

Spun out of the Singapore National Eye Centre, Plano builds digital solutions for childhood myopia prevention. Its app combines vision science, behavioural insights and AI to help parents manage children's eye health — already serving 120,000+ children as the government's official myopia-prevention partner.

smart_toy

UnoMove

Embodied AI · Robotics
Founder
Dr. Gao

NUS PhD, Tsinghua B.Eng; 2018 NeurIPS world champion; co-founded with NUS Provost's Chair Prof. David Hsu.

UnoMove

Embodied AI · Robotics
Vision

Human-like vision for every robot.

UnoMove industrializes embodied-intelligence navigation born from NUS robotics research. Its UnoBox is a plug-and-play sensor suite that gives wheeled robots, quadrupeds and autonomous vehicles human-like pure-vision navigation — no lidar, no HD maps required. Deployed across smart firefighting, inspection, security and L2–L4 driving, it cuts navigation costs by over 70% versus lidar solutions.

hub

Graphen

AI · FinTech
Founder
Dr. Lin

IEEE Fellow; former IBM Chief Scientist; world authority in network science.

Graphen

AI · FinTech
Vision

AI that banks and regulators can trust.

Graphen Singapore is the Asian hub of US-based Graphen Inc., bringing the Ardi full-brain AI platform to the region. Unlike statistical LLMs, Ardi reasons logically and explains every conclusion — meeting regulators' demands for explainable AI. It powers real-time financial-crime detection at leading global banks, analysing billions of nodes in seconds.

trending_up

Alpha Ladder InnovX

AI · Venture Scaling
Founder
Dr. Bai

MIT Physics PhD; former Warburg Pincus partner; co-chair of Asia Green Fund.

Alpha Ladder InnovX

AI · Venture Scaling
Vision

Making world-leading AI local across Asia.

Alpha Ladder InnovX is a growth-builder and scaling platform for leading AI technologies entering Asia. With a make-it-local strategy, it helps frontier AI companies land and scale across Southeast Asia's B2B markets. Flagship cases include AI parking and traffic optimization at 99.97% recognition accuracy.

flight

Belli AI

SaaS · Air Cargo
Founder
Mr. Pan

Former McKinsey partner; ex-Chief Product Officer of AirAsia Cargo; built SpaceX logistics platform and Booking.com APIs.

Belli AI

SaaS · Air Cargo
Vision

An air-cargo industry that runs on software.

Belli builds SaaS software that digitizes air cargo for airlines, from booking to loading. In an industry where a 35-minute loading window decides revenue, its tools deliver speed and precision. Break-even within nine months, Etihad among its first customers, and a US$2M round led by Europe's Pitchdrive.

battery_charging_full

Thiospark Energy

New Energy · Batteries
Founder
Dr. Rao

Pioneer of the first commercial solid-state Li-S battery; co-founded with Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna, one of the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds.

Thiospark Energy

New Energy · Batteries
Vision

Triple the energy, none of the critical minerals.

Thiospark builds next-generation solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries on ceramic-polymer electrolytes. At 540 Wh/kg — triple lithium-ion — devices run three times longer and weigh 20% less. No nickel or cobalt, sulfur from industrial waste, 40% lower production emissions — built for drones, eVTOL, marine and medical uses.

memory

Senphoton

Semiconductors
Founder
Dr. Li

NTU first-class honours and PhD; Cambridge postdoc; 18 years at A*STAR and Huawei; 20+ photonics patents.

Senphoton

Semiconductors
Vision

Custom photonic chips, from design to fab.

Senphoton is a fabless design-service house for AI photonic integrated chips, serving international clients from R&D through mass production. The team brings deep expertise across chip design, fabrication, testing, packaging and reliability validation. Its founders previously helped build a US$1B+ MicroLED company and a leading silicon-photonics module chip designer.

bolt

Volt14 Solutions

New Energy · Materials
Founder
Mr. Jha

HKUST and MIT energy-materials researcher; Forbes 30 Under 30, Industry and Energy.

Volt14 Solutions

New Energy · Materials
Vision

Batteries four years ahead of the roadmap.

Volt14 develops high-performance silicon-anode technology for lithium-ion batteries. Its anode ships in roll form and integrates into existing production lines, delivering 4x the performance of standard anodes — four years ahead of the roadmap. Validated by leading institutes and in certification with top global manufacturers.

water_drop

MIPS Innovations

CleanTech · Sensors
Founder
Prof. Li

Double PhD, Imperial College London; 500+ publications; invited by the Nobel Committee to nominate candidates.

MIPS Innovations

CleanTech · Sensors
Vision

Clean water verified in minutes, anywhere.

MIPS provides high-efficiency, low-cost online water-quality monitoring. Its quartz-crystal sensor system automatically samples, measures and self-cleans, detecting heavy metals, pesticides and bacteria at 10ppb sensitivity. Each test takes ten minutes and costs about one Singapore dollar.

monitor_heart

PreciX

MedTech · Wearables
Founder
Ms. Lim

Sold her startup Zopim to Zendesk (NYSE) at 28; founding partner of a US$300M fund; co-founded with FRCS orthopedic surgeon.

PreciX

MedTech · Wearables
Vision

Precision analytics that keep people moving.

PreciX builds the GATOR platform for ultra-precise knee-motion analysis, pairing a six-sensor wearable with cloud AI. Clinicians get assessment 10x faster and more accurate than traditional methods, for early diagnosis and rehabilitation. ISO 13485 certified, patented internationally, and deployed in Singapore and Japan.

precision_manufacturing

IndustrialMind.ai

AI · Manufacturing
Founding Team
Ex-Tesla Founders

Founding trio from Tesla — factory digitalization, manufacturing AI, and commercialization (Berkeley MBA).

IndustrialMind.ai

AI · Manufacturing
Vision

An AI process engineer in every factory.

IndustrialMind.ai delivers AI process engineers to manufacturers short of engineering talent. Combining vision-language models, industrial IoT and time-series AI, it covers process design, monitoring and root-cause analysis. Customers cut design time 90% and reach 100% quality control — with payback in about six months.

insights

FollowTrade

FinTech · Social Trading
Founder
Prof. Ling

20+ years in investment banking including J.P. Morgan; INSEAD EMBA.

FollowTrade

FinTech · Social Trading
Vision

Investing made social.

FollowTrade builds a social trading platform where retail investors follow, share and learn from each other in a trusted community. Revenue spans subsidized trading education with NUS, NTU and SMU, rebates from licensed partners, and algorithm subscriptions. Supported by Enterprise Singapore, NRF and MAS.

medical_services

FathomX

MedTech · AI Imaging
Founder
Prof. Hartman

Senior breast-cancer surgeon with 21 years' clinical experience; co-founded with an NUS data-science professor.

FathomX

MedTech · AI Imaging
Vision

Earlier detection for every woman.

FathomX is an NUS spin-off applying AI to breast-cancer screening. FxMammo analyses mammograms at AUC 0.902 — above global benchmarks, especially strong on the dense breast tissue common among Asian women. It cuts reading time by up to 28% and is deployed across multiple Asian countries.

home_work

Seeker

AI · PropTech
Founder
Mr. Chen

MIT Sloan MBA; NUS first-class engineering honours; 20+ years across investment banking, PE/VC and CFO roles.

Seeker

AI · PropTech
Vision

Short video meets AI agent for the way we live.

Seeker is an AI-native real-estate short-video platform for next-generation living discovery. Users explore homes through a dopamine-driven feed while a 24/7 AI SuperAgent matches listings and guides decisions — from content to transaction. Live on the App Store and Play Store, expanding from Singapore.

neurology

Bring About MI (BAMI)

HealthTech · Neurotech
Founder
Dr. Tan

NTU PhD; global authority in auditory evoked potentials — top-8 Google Scholar citations in the field.

Bring About MI (BAMI)

HealthTech · Neurotech
Vision

Brain health, monitored from home.

BAMI develops a digital neuro-biomarker ecosystem for the home, targeting early monitoring of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other conditions. Its world-first solution pairs wearable EEG with standardized cognitive tasks to quantify brain-sensory synchrony — objective measurement where clinics rely on self-reporting. Patented and university-validated.

Founder identities are shown by title only. Host startups vary by cohort and are matched to each Fellow's interests and skills.

Your Portfolio

What You Graduate With.

Admissions officers trust what they can verify. Everything the fellowship produces is specific and checkable.

verified

Verifiable Internship Certificates

Co-branded by Transfong and the host startup, with a verification link so universities can confirm every detail — dates, project, and supervisor.

mail

Founder Referral Letters

Strong performers earn a personal referral letter from the startup founder — with specific stories and concrete contributions, not generic praise.

work

Work You Can Show

Every internship ends with a tangible deliverable — a market study, research report, or prototype — that you can point to in essays and interviews.

edit_note

Application Storytelling Guidance

After each internship, a structured reflection session helps you turn the experience into compelling material for personal statements, activity lists, and interviews.

We are honest with families: no programme can guarantee university admission — and you should be wary of any that claims to. What we provide is genuine, verifiable experience that speaks for itself.

Fellowship Privileges

Inside a Living Innovation Ecosystem.

Transfong runs startup competitions, immersion trips, and founder events across Singapore and China. Selected Fellows may be invited to join as student volunteers — when timing and location align.

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Startup Pitch Competitions

Volunteer at our SG-CN AI Acceleration pitch rounds in Singapore — watch startups pitch to investors, up close.

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Tech Immersion Trips

Support our China immersion programmes visiting future unicorns in AI, robotics, and IoT — alongside founders and investors.

groups

Founder Sessions & Community

Join online sessions with startup founders from our network, and connect with fellow students who share your ambitions.

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These opportunities are by invitation only, based on your performance and availability — they are a privilege of the fellowship, not a guaranteed component.

Who Can Apply

Two Tracks, One Standard.

Admission is selective and cohorts are kept small — we only accept students we can genuinely place and mentor.

High School Track

Preparing for overseas undergraduate study

  • check_circleAges 15–18, planning to apply to universities abroad
  • check_circleCurious about technology and entrepreneurship — no coding required
  • check_circleAble to work in English and commit time during school holidays
University Track

Preparing for overseas graduate study

  • check_circleUndergraduates targeting master's or PhD programmes abroad
  • check_circleDeeper project scopes: research, analysis, product, and market work
  • check_circlePotential for longer placements and on-site opportunities
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The fellowship runs for 12 months and is renewable by invitation — strong Fellows continue into a second year with bigger projects and deeper responsibility.

Your Fellowship Year

A Simple, Structured Journey.

1

Month 1 — Bootcamp

Two weeks — 4–5 small-group online sessions on the global tech ecosystem, hot domains, and startup working culture. Ends with a capstone assignment.

2

First school holiday — Internship #1

Your first 1–2 month placement with an international tech startup, on a pre-scoped project with a defined deliverable.

3

Through the year — Internships #2 & #3

Further placements during holidays (or term time, if your schedule allows) — each with growing scope and responsibility.

4

Year end — Portfolio review & renewal

We review your full portfolio, coach you on presenting it in applications, and invite strong Fellows to renew for another year.

FAQ

Questions Parents & Students Ask.

Are the internships remote or on-site? expand_more

Both. Most first internships are remote, so students can join from anywhere. On-site placements in Singapore or China may be arranged for later internships where feasible.

How are students matched with startups? expand_more

Transfong scopes each project with the startup before matching — so every internship has a clear brief, a defined deliverable, and a named supervisor. Students are matched based on their interests, skills, and bootcamp performance, and a Transfong mentor supports them throughout.

Will this guarantee admission to a top university? expand_more

No — and be cautious of any programme that promises this. What the fellowship provides is what admissions genuinely value: sustained commitment, genuine responsibility, verifiable work, and authentic stories to tell. That is what strengthens an application.

How much time does the fellowship require? expand_more

The bootcamp runs over two weeks as 4–5 small-group online sessions, scheduled outside school hours. Each internship takes around 10–15 hours a week for 1–2 months, and is scheduled around school holidays wherever possible — studies always come first.

Can the fellowship be renewed after 12 months? expand_more

Yes, by invitation. Fellows who perform well are invited to renew for another year, with bigger projects, deeper responsibility, and continued access to the community — building a multi-year story of growth.

Small Cohorts. Limited Places. Apply Early.

Admission is selective and each cohort is intentionally small. Tell us about your student — or yourself — and we will arrange an introductory conversation.

Apply for the Fellowship Talk to Us on WhatsApp

Note: Internship matching is subject to successful completion of the bootcamp and availability of suitable host startups. Participation in Transfong events is by invitation only and subject to scheduling. The programme does not promise any university admission outcome.