iKEY, Langwords emerge winners of Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator

  • Two winners were selected  from pool of ten participating startups
  • Next cohort open to startups involved in agritech, foodtech 

Left to Right: iKEY's co-founder & chief technology officer, Ernest Tan, co-founder, Calvin Lee, Langwords' co-founders Yin Ooi & Joy Ooi.

Two promising startups, iKEY and Langwords, have been selected as the winners of Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator Cohort 41.

In a statement, Alpha Startups said all 10 finalist couldn't be more diverse. From early childhood education to building inspection through AI-driven processing, they showcased their ideas at the Demo Day which unfolded after an intensive five-weeks of acceleration. 

In the end, the three judges Suresh Thiru, former chief executive officer (CEO) of SEEK Asia, Syed Haizam, managing partner of The Hive Southeast Asia and Bikesh Lakhmichand, CEO and founding partner of 1337 Ventures presented the top positions to iKEY and Langwords.

iKEY, founded by Calvin Lee and Earnest Tan is based on the idea that thousands of Malaysian educators should have a singular platform for their administrative and operations tasks as work unfolds, Alpha Startups said.

“I figured if the food industry has its own system to assist in operations, why not the education sector?” asked Calvin, who added that by recognising this gap,  developed iKEY with the purpose of improving efficiency and saving time for local educators.

iKEY’s cloud-based management system is currently adopted by more than 350 education centers in Malaysia, consisting of pre-schools, kindergarten, tuition, daycare centers, international schools and enrichment centers, assisting them through online payment/invoicing, data management, student attendance and even reporting. 

Meanwhile, Langwords aims to bridge the language barrier through translation, localisation, interpreting,  copywriting, transcreation and subtitling services by offering a diverse range of tailor-made language solutions in more than 50 languages.

According to its co-founder, Yin Ooi, Alpha Startups has boosted her morale and confidence as a startup founder and has helped her understand Langwords better.

Together with co-founder, Joy Ooi,  the next step for Langwords is to implement the strategies presented during the Demo Day, which is to develop a portal for clients and freelancers. 

“This will increase our efficiency and brand reach and we hope to break into regional and international markets soon,” said Yin.

The annual Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator reflects 1337 Ventures' dedication to building promising and impactful Malaysian startups. iKEY, Langwords emerge winners of Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator

Bikesh Lakhmichand (pic) , CEO and founding partner of 1337 Ventures said the company is excited to announce the winners of cohort 41, adding that he started 1337 Ventures with a vision to help entrepreneurs avoid the pitfalls which he faced when starting his own company. 

“To date, we have built 1337 Ventures from the scale of a simple SoHo office with adhoc mentorship to an online programme that has since scaled and helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs all over Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

“I look forward to continuing to grow and improving our programmes and offerings to impact the Malaysian entrepreneurial ecosystem further,” Bikesh said. 

1337 Ventures will continue to host the pre-accelerator virtually, with applications for the next now open to startups in the agri-tech and food-tech industries, it said.

Malaysian startups can also benefit from virtual fireside chats and webinars organised by venture capitalists, that feature industry leaders and mentors to guide and support startup founders, it added.

To stay up to date about upcoming webinars and programmes from 1337 Ventures, follow them on LinkedIn

 

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