It’s been a tricky few years for the Malaysian startup scene, however there are various entrepreneurs who’ve managed to drag their enterprise by way of them.
Amongst them, some went on to pursue world growth, and others caught the attention of buyers, profitable them over and leading to funding rounds to the tune of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
Prior to now one 12 months particularly, what are a number of the names who earned investor confidence? We appeared again in time, and got here up with this non-exhaustive listing of Malaysian corporations who’ve raised greater than US$1 million previously 12 months, organized chronologically.
PolicyStreet, an insurtech (insurance coverage know-how) startup, raised US$6 million (RM25 million) with its Sequence A fundraising spherical in September 2021.
In response to its web site, PolicyStreet goals to “democratise insurance coverage” and break down complicated insurance coverage insurance policies for shoppers.
The funds have been raised by Altara Ventures, Auspac Funding Administration, Gobi Companions, and the Leong household of Mah Sing Group.
With the funds, the insurtech firm aimed to develop into new markets within the areas and additional develop its technological capabilities.
In an October 2021 seed funding spherical, Malaysian agritech drone options supplier Aonic (often called Poladrone on the time) was reported to have raised US$4.29 million (RM18 million).
The spherical was led by Wavemaker Companions and included different buyers such because the Malaysian Know-how Improvement Company (MTDC).
In an interview with Vulcan Submit, the startup’s founder, Cheong Jin Xi (JX), mentioned one of many fundamental drivers for the fundraising was to scale the corporate’s operations “to deliver the advantages supplied by our know-how to extra folks, quicker”.
JX additionally mentioned the corporate would first deal with strengthening its market presence and choices in Malaysia.
This aligns with Aonic’s retail vertical launched in July 2022 alongside its rebrand. The brand new vertical will let clients purchase drones and spare components instantly from Aonic’s web site or brick-and-mortar areas.
Suggest Group, a house providers social advice platform, raised US$4 million (round RM16 million) in October 2021.
The group is operational in Malaysia as Suggest.my the place customers can search, assessment, and advocate service professionals for house enchancment, upkeep, cleansing, and extra.
The funding spherical was led by Shanghai-based Morning Crest Capital and was joined by present buyers together with Singapore-based Mind-Too-Free Ventures.
Suggest mentioned that the funds can be used to develop its workforce in Indonesia and Malaysia whereas enhancing the person expertise on its buyer and vendor cell apps in addition to its web site.
Only a 12 months after its launch, homegrown edutech startup ReSkills raised US$1.5 million (round RM6.2 million) in November 2021.
A registered coaching supplier underneath the Human Useful resource Improvement Company of Malaysia (HRDC), ReSkills is an app developed to assist coaches transfer their providers on-line.
Led by JSF Platinum, the fundraising spherical would let ReSkills stabilise its growth within the SEA area and additional develop its edutech platform.
When Vulcan Submit spoke to the startup in July 2022, ReSkills was gearing as much as launch a brand new section (ReSkills 2.0) the place it goals to grow to be a Malaysian academic tremendous app.
Based mostly in Malaysia, Meals Market Hub is a cloud software platform that goals to bridge the hole between eating places and suppliers. To assist F&B companies minimise waste and handle meals prices in addition to their stock, the platform automates the buying and inventory-tracking course of.
In December 2021, it bagged US$8.5 million in its prolonged Sequence A+ spherical, which introduced its complete Sequence A funding to US$12.5 million.
In response to an article by Technode International, the startup aimed to make use of the funds to additional finance its growth and expedite its plans to enter Indonesia.
In January 2022, KL-based edutech startup, Pandai, raised a complete of US$2.03 million. The startup had additionally been the primary Malaysian edutech startup to be accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator programme in Silicon Valley.
In response to reporting by Digital Information Asia, notable world buyers embody Y Combinator, International Founders Capital, 500 International, Soma Capital, and Harvard.
On the Malaysian facet, the fundraising was led by RHL Ventures, Falnas Capital, and Kembara Kapital. Pandai’s co-founder, Khairul, mentioned the funding can be used to boost the app.
Pandai works by letting college students be taught utilizing gamified quizzes aligned to the nationwide curriculum whereas offering personalised training experiences, which we defined extra about in our startup characteristic right here.
The platform at the moment boasts over 400,000 registered college students, in line with its web site.
As one in every of Malaysia’s few unicorns and a startup whose journey we’ve been masking because the early days, Carsome barely wants an introduction.
Earlier this 12 months, the Malaysian on-line used automobile buying and selling platform had introduced the completion of its US$290 million Sequence E spherical.
Collectively led by Qatar Funding Authority, 65 Fairness Companions, and Seatown Personal Capital Grasp Fund, the Sequence E spherical introduced Carsome to a valuation of roughly US$1.7 billion.
In response to a press launch, Carsome deliberate to make use of the funds to “speed up funding in folks, product, know-how, knowledge functionality, infrastructure, and regional growth of its retail model, Carsome Licensed, throughout key markets in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand”.
Content material aggregation platform Newswav raised US$1.4 (RM6 million) in its collection A spherical. The fundraising spherical was led by OSK Ventures Worldwide.
In response to Tech in Asia, the Malaysian information aggregator deliberate to primarily use the funds to amass extra customers, develop creators’ platforms, and scale up inhouse adtech capabilities.
Reportedly recording over 15 million common month-to-month visits, Newswav is backed by BFM Capital and YYC Ventures. As a politically unbiased information aggregator, the platform has partnered with almost 200 content material companions together with publications like our very personal Vulcan Submit, The Solar Day by day, Malay Mail, The Edge, and extra.
One other homegrown edutech startup, GuruLab, joins this listing, having raised US$1 million in a seed spherical joined by Wright Companions in January 2022.
GuruLab, which we’ve featured earlier than, is an internet studying platform that analyses college students’ performances with its collected knowledge to then offered focused intervention.
In response to Tech in Asia, GuruLab mentioned the brand new capital can be used to strengthen its analytics platform and develop its choices inside Malaysia’s training system. Presently, the platform solely presents English classes, however it additionally intends to develop into different topics.
Elevating US$7 million (RM29.3 million) in January is Dropee, a Malaysian-based B2B wholesale startup. Its collection A funding was led by Vynn Capital, a returning investor.
As a Software program as a Service (SaaS)-enabled market, Dropee goals to assist companies function extra effectively by connecting consumers to wholesale sellers in a faster, extra clear manner.
In response to Digital Information Asia, the startup hopes to strengthen its foothold in Indonesia and Malaysia by “offering extra worth added providers equivalent to ecommerce providers, on-ground activation groups, and monetary assist”.
Reportedly, the funding may also be used to speed up financing choices for wholesalers and retailers on Dropee.
IIMMPACT, a fintech startup based mostly in Malaysia, introduced in February that it acquired US$2 million (RM8.37 million) in seed funding from Sequoia India’s Surge—an accelerator programme for startups in Southeast Asia and India.
A turnkey answer supplier, IIMMPACT helps companies digitalise their fee providers with little coding.
In an interview with Vulcan Submit, co-founder Alex Tan mentioned the funds will first be used to develop the corporate’s gross sales and tech workforce.
From there, the startup additionally desires to extend its digital merchandise to embody insurance coverage, transporation, and government-related providers.
Contact ‘n Go Group’s TNG Digital, the proprietor and operator of Contact ‘n Go eWallet, introduced in July that it had raised RM750 million from its newest spherical of fairness funding.
The spherical was led by a brand new funding from Lazada and a follow-on funding by TNG Digital’s shareholder and mother or father firm, Contact ‘n Go Sdn. Bhd.
In response to an article by The Edge, TNG’s CEO Effendy Shahul Hamid mentioned the collaboration will deliver next-level propositions to customers and service provider bases throughout the Lazada and Contact ‘n Go ecosystem.
Led by Indonesian enterprise capital agency East Ventures, RPG Commerce’s Sequence B funding was introduced to have totalled US$29 million in July 2022.
RPG Commerce is a direct-to-consumer social commerce firm that builds manufacturers from the bottom up. Some acquainted manufacturers housed underneath RPG Commerce consists of Thousand Miles, Montigo, and Cosmic Cookware.
The startup acknowledged that the funds raised can be used to future-proof the corporate’s know-how and improvement processes. It should additionally go into growing and increasing RPG’s model portfolio to create modern client merchandise.
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In fact, having the ability to increase funding isn’t the one indicator {that a} startup is doing properly, or exhibiting potential of doing properly within the close to future.
Nonetheless, with what it takes to efficiently shut a big funding spherical, the highlighted startups above have little question confirmed their grit to buyers.
With Merdeka proper across the nook, we thought we’d take this chance to want these Malaysian startups a hearty congratulations as soon as once more on their large funding rounds!
We sit up for seeing how else Malaysian startups can be placed on the worldwide map within the months to return.
- Learn different articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Jes Min Lua, CEO and co-founder of Suggest Group / Eric Cheng, CEO and co-founder of Carsome / Jin Xi Cheong, CEO and founding father of Aonic
