“To all the startups here today, you’re going to create a company which is greater than what I have achieved,” Mark Chang, founder of online job-hunting platform, Jobstreet said to a transfixed crowd of budding startup founders.
Welcome to the ASEAN Accelerator Programme Cohort 2 Demo Day.
The day-long event saw a total of 42 pitches from startups all over Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia and even Sweden. Mark’s word of advice to them?
“Whatever benchmark I have created, you should double and triple it. If you’re here just to make money for your startup, it’s not good. Instead, think how does your company create a better world? If you do that, society will reward you with the success.”
Out of the 42 pitches to investors, fellow cohort members, media, and guests present, these are 16 that we at Vulcan Post particularly took notice of. These startups were selected from various industries, their concepts were localised, their model has been validated and some of them are already even turning a profit.
Some of them are based in Malaysia, and some are started by non Malaysians; but one similarity is that they want to be huge movers in the startup ecosystem.
1. Auto Craver
Auto Craver is a Malaysian startup that connects those who wish to sell their cars off, with the right dealerships, and this is done through an auction platform. Since their inception on January 1, they have generated 132 leads, and had 23 transactions.
2. BuildEasy
BuildEasy is a startup that envisions doing away with contractors and interior designers to make the outfitting of one’s property as simple as online shopping. What they do is provide curated design templates with options for online customisation. Thus far, BuildEasy has been able to achieve a MoM growth of 100% since their launch.
3. CatJira
The term ‘influencer’ is growing with epic proportions and the market is beginning to validate its presence. As such, it is only wise of CatJira to jump on that speeding bandwagon. The startup is a community based marketplace of online influencers and they provide among other things, up-to-date influencer profiles. Thus far, they have been able to attain 373,000 followers on Instagram and 45 million pageviews on Blogger and WordPress.
4. Cookly
Cookly is a startup originating from Thailand and it is a marketplace for culinary activities. Through their site, users are able to discover, compare and book a culinary activity. Since their inception in November 2015, they have been active in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
5. dapper&co.
The fit of a dress shirt is important for all men, and dapper&co. knows this fairly well. After all, they are a startup which provides quality custom clothing at fast-fashion prices, with a guaranteed custom fit. The startup has had upwards of 100 paying customers since June 2016.
6. DoYouShoe
SHOEBLOXX is the brainchild of Malaysian startup, DoYouShoe. It is a modular detachable footwear that allows a user to economically customise their shoes according to their style and taste. As of April 2016, DoYouShoe has acquired 134 pre-bookings, 1,330 subscriptions as well as 3 partnerships.
7. Eat Cake Today
When Crystal of Eat Cake Today took the stage to pitch her startup, she spoke of female cakeconomy stats, where in a typical lifetime of a woman, she would inevitably encounter many reasons to purchase a cake, whether it is for a birthday celebration or ‘just because’. The startup which delivers cakes in 4 hours or under has attained RM310,000 in revenue over 9 months, with an average MoM growth of 40%.
8. golazo Football
golazo Football took to the stage in a coach’s jacket, a whistle and a football. Being the last pitcher during session 1 of MAP Asean Demo Day, they certainly stole everyone’s attention with a high-pitched whistle blow. The startup is a social platform which connects social football teams, players, referees, fields and tournaments. As of June 2016, golazo Football has 578 registered players with them.
9. Happy Bunch
Happy Bunch is a startup which provides an economical online flower delivery service to Malaysians. To date, they have upwards of 27,000 users, a 12.5% MoM growth and an approximate sales revenue of RM140,000 per month.
10. INTELLLEX
INTELLLEX was built with lawyers in mind. They are a legal tech startup based in Singapore and their aim is to build better tools for the legal community in the areas of legal research and knowledge management. As of June 2016, the team has managed to organically acquire 580 users.
11. LocalUsher
LocalUsher is an online platform designed with city dwellers in mind and it allows one to search up activities to do around Malaysia and Singapore. The unique selling point of their startup is that it allows one to also search up activities with regards to their personality type. The Malaysian startup has been cash flow positive since May 2016, and they have witnessed a 10x growth rate over the period of 6 months.
12. MobileWaiter.my
Where other food delivery platforms charge an exorbitantly high delivery fee, MobileWaiter.my is a platform that allows diners to order from multiple restaurants with an RM1 delivery fee and no minimum order. The startup has been delivering an average of 1000 items per day since May 2016, and has 2000 unique monthly visitors to their website.
13. PostCo
PostCo is a Malaysian startup which simplifies the delivery process for the likes of parcels and packages. They leverage off of the extra unused storage space of an existing network of local stores, be it cafes or pharmacies, and allow customers a chance to receive and return their parcels through these places. Thus far, PostCo has been able to achieve an average of 24% MoM order growth and 74% of repetitive orders.
14. RocketValet
RocketValet is a startup which offers pickup and delivery services for customers who wish to move their cars anywhere, be it to service centres, moving the cars home from bars or events, parking, or even car washes. In 7 months, the startup has an average of 30-50 bookings monthly and a 2-3 regular customer retention rate.
15. SCHUHSTER
SCHUHSTER is a height booster for men, in the form of a shoe. During co-founder Anthony’s wedding to his wife, Shayna, who is also a co-founder of SCHUHSTER, Shayna towered over him in wedding pictures. As Shayna is a whole lot taller than her business and life partner, that was how the idea for the business came about. They have thus far secured distributorship in Singapore, Hong Kong and London.
16. SushiVid
SushiVid is the “Jobstreet” for influencers and they are a portal connecting social influencers with brands for sponsorships and collaborations. Fellow founder Yuh Wen created SushiVid for herself as she noted how hard it was for her then to thrive as an actress in Malaysia. In the past 5 months, SushiVid has acquired 350 influencers, 60 brands and 48 campaigns on board, and they are already revenue-generating.
The 42 startups gave it their all and expertly managed to summarise what they were all about in 5 minutes and under. It was an impossible achievement without the undying drive to see their startup funded and succeed, and was a valiant effort indeed by all the pitchers. To see the full list of startups from the MAP Asean Demo Day, click here.
Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) aims to build a Sustainable Entrepreneurship Ecosystem by catalysing creativity & innovation for long term nation impact. Meet their startups here, and find out more about their accelerator programmes here. You can also follow MaGIC on Instagram and Twitter for live feeds.