Seedstars is an organisation dedicated to connecting many startups with people within the ecosystem—giving them a chance to build a company from the bottom.
The organisation also invests in established entrepreneurs throughout the globe and selected startups can benefit from these connections the company has.
We’ve written about the search for startups to participate in the finals pitch happening this Thursday on the 20th of July 2017, and the jury is out.
They’ve narrowed down the list to 8 nominees. The startups will pitch in front of a jury consisting of Joseph de Leon from Gravitas Prime, Juliana Jan from Cradle, Hassan Alsagoff from Mountain Partners Malaysia, Mohd Ridzwan Nordin from Khazanah, Rebecca Kux from 500 Startups, and Rosie Keller from Seedstars.
The crowned winner will represent the country in Switzerland, with a chance to compete for the grand prize of over 1 million USD (approximately RM4.29 million) in investment.
Here’s a quick roundup of the Malaysian startups that will be pitching this Thursday’s event.
1. CheQQme
CheQQme is a mobile marketing platform that explores the use of gamification as a marketing tool in hopes to bring online customers to offline walk-ins. They want to let physical stores gain more exposure and market value.
Their list of partners is growing and they’ve gained a lot of attention recently with their innovative idea and are hoping to help more businesses gain brand loyalty through this method.
They have new challenges posted for the users to try out—from quizzes to treasure hunts—they constantly invent new games to keep users engaged on their platform.
2. MoneyMatch
There’ll always be some hidden fees when we exchange and send money abroad through banks. This Malaysian FinTech company is looking to aid with this problem using a platform that imposes no hidden charges onto sums of money you plan to transfer.
MoneyMatch is a digital platform that provides cheaper and easier cross-border remittance services for their customers. Being an online platform, the company can lower operational costs and thus, is able to offer a competitive rate.
Not only is this a smart way to work, going paperless is also useful in keeping track of data and analyses. Their service would allow customers to hold onto more of their cash transfers as compared to using other companies.
3. Moovby
If the idea of buying a car for yourself doesn’t strike you as appealing, this startup may just be the key to solving your problem.
Moovby is a peer-to-peer car sharing service that puts idle cars into good use—even if it’s just for an hour. This company build a platform where users can rent their vehicles to others whenever they aren’t being used.
They charge on an hourly basis which benefits many people who aren’t interested in renting the cars for a whole day—which is what most other car rental services offer normally.
4. PasarTap
Imagine ordering a whole load of farm-fresh products with just a few simple clicks and you can have it delivered straight to your doorsteps in a matter of hours. It’d be a dream come true for every household.
PasarTap is a grocery delivery service that aims to be the middleman between you and your local fresh food supplier. By delivering straight from the supplier, they can ensure customers a fresh quality of products while also lessening their burden of travelling to the grocery stores (and not to mention looking for a parking too).
Their platform allows a hassle-free transaction and it benefits all parties involved.
5. PolicyStreet
Buying insurance is always troublesome when you don’t know which is the best package to sign on. The risk of losing out on an insurance policy is always high and people tend to choose the wrong policies due to misunderstanding or misconceptions about it.
PolicyStreet is working towards transforming the insurance industry by implementing this online comparison platform for customers to find cheap and relevant insurance catered to themselves. The company provides everyone with a straightforward, easy-to-understand version of different kinds of policies and schemes.
They are still expanding their coverage right now and only a few schemes are in place but customers are free to give their thoughts on further schemes and packages they should provide.
6. UMAI
We constantly see new restaurants opening its doors but at the same time, plenty are closing down too. So, why not create a software that can easily track and find ways to help increase your revenue while decreasing your costs accordingly.
UMAI is a restaurant operations software that wants to enhance your restaurant’s hospitality and reputation. The system works by storing information on customers from their previous dining experiences. The software is programmed to take in any form of information from how the servers are doing to what how much customers spend on their meals.
They collaborate with the best restaurants and brands—which in turn attracts the best quality-conscious users onto their platform. The software will be able to rake in customers and help you provide a better dining experience for your guests.
7. ViExAs
According to Rezwan of ViExAs, they provide a platform to ensure that expert technical or domain knowledge of a product or company’s source code can be easily accessible to other employees.
“It addresses the forgetfulness of human nature and crisis of expert knowledge in a company with deep learning, thus creating a safe guard for a company knowledge. This platform will also help individual developers with their personal projects,” he said.
ViExAs is still in closed beta-testing phase with few volunteer users and companies.
8. BAWA Cane
Living with a visual impairment is tough and many companies are now creating products that can help those who are affected go through their daily activities with more ease and comfort.
BAWA Cane is an assistive smart cane that connects to your mobile phones or wearable devices and helps guide your journey. It provides the users an insight to their surrounding environment with its data processing and the audio feedback allows the visually impaired to navigate easily and safely.
There are also many extra features to this product ranging from emergency alert buttons to heartbeat tracking.
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This year’s top 8 are a good mix from a variety of industries, ranging from F&B, to insurance and fintech.
However, it will all come down to their pitches and how well they can convey their startup in the 5 minutes given, and also how they handle answering the questions from the judging panel. We’re looking forward to the session and also to see who will be our country’s representative on the global stage in Switzerland.
To the startups, all the best for the pitches this Thursday!
Tickets for the event are still available via the website here.