Earlier than S’pore’s startup scene took off, there was HackerspaceSG

The 2010s marked a revival for Singapore’s tech scene.

After the dotcom bust had worn out many tech startups, a brand new era of founders started to emerge—able to experiment, construct from scratch, and take dangers on their very own concepts.

Amid this resurgence, a brand new sort of neighborhood started to take form. Throughout Singapore, maker areas, co-working hubs, and startup incubators began sprouting, a lot of them backed by huge tech wanting to nurture native developer ecosystems.

However the pioneer of all of it was a small, scrappy house on Bussorah Road referred to as HackerspaceSG.

Based in 2009 by 4 pals who wished a house for Singapore’s geeks, engineers, and entrepreneurs, it turned the beating coronary heart of the town’s early startup tradition—a spot the place concepts had been soldered collectively over espresso, curiosity, and neighborhood.

The house noticed itself because the “larval stage of a start-up,” mentioned Wong Meng Weng, one of many co-founders of HackerspaceSG, again in 2013. “Tech builders come right here, meet others, hook up, stop their jobs, and begin their very own tasks at Hackerspace.”

And certainly, many did. Inside its partitions, concepts and collaborations had been born that will go on to form Singapore’s early tech ecosystem.

HackerspaceSG helped spawn initiatives like JFDI.Asia, the area’s first startup accelerator, to mentor and fund budding entrepreneurs. Alumni like Ruiwen Chua would go on to discovered startups similar to cellular studying software program Sq. Crumbs and property itemizing platform 99.co, whereas different members launched world successes like streaming service Viki.

However as Singapore’s startup scene took off, HackerspaceSG slowly receded into the background. Right this moment, it’s a identify that has largely pale from right this moment’s conversations concerning the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

How did a once-vibrant neighborhood hub slip quietly into the background of the very scene it helped create?

The “Zouk of Geekdom”

Again then, how HackerspaceSG labored was easy: it gave members 24/7 entry to an area to tinker with software program, {hardware}, and electronics—a haven for anybody with curiosity and a soldering iron.

The house operated on a community-driven mannequin. Selections had been made collectively, actions had been maintained by volunteers, and the vibe was extra clubhouse than workplace. Members shared tools, traded experience, and discovered by doing—a self-sustaining ecosystem of experimentation, or as they appreciated to name it, “the Zouk of geekdom.”

Membership charges again in 2011 ranged from S$32 to S$512, relying on frequency of utilization, from informal entry to full-time, seven-day-a-week availability. It primarily functioned like a co-working house.

Regardless of the seemingly steep costs, folks stored coming. It was, in any case, the peak of Singapore’s DIY motion—a time when entry to reasonably priced expertise and on-line tutorials made it simpler than ever to construct issues from scratch. A rising variety of native fanatics had been placing their arms and minds collectively to make robots, cellphone chargers, 3D printers, and even write their very own software program purposes, so HackerspaceSG naturally turned a focus.

Simply two years after its founding in late 2009, the house had grown from 24 members to greater than 60, supported by a 300-strong mailing listing buzzing with exercise.

And with that momentum got here the lifeblood of the neighborhood: weekly meetups and workshops.

The house often hosted technical classes, {hardware} demonstrations, hackathons, and social nights, even attracting distinguished figures. In the course of the peak of Singapore’s tech startup growth, Fb co-founder Eduardo Saverin dropped by to satisfy the town’s rising tribe of builders and entrepreneurs.

Again then, tech giants performed a pivotal position in fuelling the scene. Within the 2010s, firms like Microsoft, Google, AWS, and PayPal incessantly sponsored native developer occasions and hackathons, serving to developer communities thrive. PayPal’s BattleHack got here to Singapore in 2014, whereas AWS and Google Developer Teams ran common meetups that offered venues and mentorship.

Ultimately, Singapore’s startup and tech scene grew exponentially over time. Now backed by authorities grants and VC funding, startups slowly moved away from soldering benches to shiny new co-working areas.

The ecosystem that HackerspaceSG helped ignite was thriving—however in that success, the necessity for a spot prefer it quietly diminished.

Fading however removed from lifeless

As soon as pulsing with late-night vitality and uncooked experimentation, HackerspaceSG started to settle down within the late 2010s.

The chatter of keyboards and the clatter of instruments slowly gave approach to silence as members discovered new properties in startups, labs, and corporations that had grown out of the very motion it began.

Even for individuals who didn’t take the entrepreneurial route, many went on to develop from power to power of their careers—carrying with them the spirit of experimentation and neighborhood that outlined the house.

These alumni have paid it ahead, constructing networks and mentorship teams like Engineers.SG, Junior Dev SG, and KopiJS to maintain the maker spirit alive.

The founding members who as soon as camped out in its shophouse, soldering prototypes and brainstorming startups, have additionally lengthy moved on right this moment—although they nonetheless drop by often, as if visiting an previous buddy.

The pandemic performed a component in quieting issues down. A member of HackerspaceSG shared that tech giants have “considerably begun” to wind down their venue sponsorships and assist for developer neighborhood occasions since COVID-19, a stark distinction to backing that when fuelled the 2010s tech growth.

In a manner, HackerspaceSG had succeeded virtually too effectively. The neighborhood it helped spark had outgrown it.

However don’t get it fallacious—whereas issues have quietened down, HackerspaceSG is way from lifeless. The house nonetheless endures, smaller, quieter, and maybe much less seen than in its heyday, however no much less significant to those that nonetheless collect there. It stays open 24/7 to members.

Over time, HackerspaceSG has shifted properties a number of instances—ranging from its humble beginnings on Bussorah Road to its bustling heyday at King George’s Avenue. In 2021, dealing with rising rents, it moved to a smaller unit throughout the similar constructing, and ultimately relocated as soon as once more to Textile Centre in Dec 2024.

Because of house constraints, HackerspaceSG can now not host as many meetups as earlier than. But, new initiatives, tinkering classes, and workshops proceed to floor, adapting to smaller areas and tighter budgets. This yr, the house has seen programming workshops, AI-focused classes, and Junior Dev meetups, amongst different initiatives.

Sparking a motion larger than itself

Right this moment, members describe HackerspaceSG as greater than only a house for software program fanatics—it’s developed right into a launchpad and neighborhood hub for tinkerers and builders of each form.

Be they in search of to interrupt new floor in 3D printing, laser chopping, cobbling collectively concepts for a brand new software program startup, and even designing circuits for experimental digital merchandise, they’ll all the time have a spot at HackerspaceSG.

“Again in 2009, the founders of HackerspaceSG shared a typical imaginative and prescient: a secure house for like-minded geeks to collect, and for technical creativity to bloom,” mentioned Meng Weng, reflecting on the neighborhood’s journey.

At a time when the neighborhood was nonetheless very nascent, it offered an area and an id, serving to Singaporeans spur concepts of what was potential of their island.

Fifteen years on, HackerspaceSG might now not sit on the centre of Singapore’s tech scene, however it should all the time be the place Singapore’s maker spirit first discovered its spark—a small, scrappy house that sparked a motion far larger than itself.

• Learn different articles we’ve written on Singaporean startups right here.

Featured Picture Credit score: HackerspaceSG