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Online kitchen furnishing retailer, Queenspree, wins US$120k Teraju grant

  • One of 23 winners from 800 applicants, aims to onboard more brands
  • Also benefit greatly from support ecosystem that Teraju, various  agencies provide

Cofounders Rafiza Abd Hamid (seated front, left) and Abdul Rahman Md Din (seated, right) with their leadership team. Back row left to right: Wan Nur Amirah, Nurul Ain Zulkifli, M Adib Md Nor and Mohamad Arif Noralfian.

Queenspree, a Malaysia-based eCommerce retailer has won a US$120,000 (RM500,000) grant under the Skim Permulaan Usahawan Bumiputera (SUPERB) programme offered by Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (TERAJU).

Queenspree is an online retailer of kitchen furnishing products that leverages on technology and processes to create a convenient and carefree online shopping experience. This includes an on-demand delivery processing system, where Queenspree.com is able to calculate the cost of point-to-point delivery based on distance, and customers are able to select their preferred delivery time upon checkout. Queenspree also invested in integrating all its social media messaging channels into one Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, enabling their team of product experts to provide fast and reliable end-to-end support for customers.

Cofounded by Abdul Rahman Md Din and Rafiza Abd Hamid in July 2019, Queenspree aims to position itself as a one-stop centre for high quality, local and international kitchen furnishing products. It took a big step towards this goal in October 2021 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of supply with an Italian company based in Milan to on-board more European kitchenware brands on its eCommerce platform, with the goal of increasing European trade to €2 million (RM9.5 million) over the next 24 months.

The Superb programme is a business pitching competition organised by Teraju, a unit in Malaysia’s Prime Minister’s Department that aims to spearhead and coordinate participation of the country’s Malay and indigenous population in the national economy. According to Teraju, there were 800 applicants that signed up for the programme, 150 of which were shortlisted to undergo a 6-week accelerator bootcamp. At the end of the programme, 60 finalists were evaluated by a panel of expert judges through a two-day final pitching session and 23 participants emerged as winners of the programme.

Queenspree previously secured funding amounting to RM460,000 from angel investors in December 2019 and March 2021 respectively. Since the first round of funding in December 2019, Queenspree has managed to increase shareholder value by 3.5 times based on its audited financial statements for the financial year 2020.

Queenspree co-founder and chief executive officer Abdul Rahman says the Superb grant comes at an opportune time as the startup is now focusing on expanding its range of products and improving its data analysis capabilities. Abdul Rahman added that a large portion of the Superb grant will be used to onboard more brands on Queenspree’s eCommerce platform, with the remaining to be invested in developing and launching a high-converting mobile commerce app as part of Queenspree’s continuous effort to improve customer experience.

The Queenspree team celebrating their TERAJU Grant win. (Clockwise) Rafiza Abd Hamid, Akmal Md Nor, Deyana  J Sham, Abdul Rahman Md Din, Nurul Ain Zulkifli and Wan Nur Amirah.

Co-founder and chief financial officer, Rafiza says that beyond the grant’s monetary value, Queenspree will also benefit greatly from the support ecosystem that Teraju and other participating agencies provide throughout this crucial phase of the company’s growth. “The support is of tremendous value to us as we start to expand beyond Malaysia’s shores. With the help of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and other entities facilitated by Teraju, we are evaluating route-to-market strategies for countries like Indonesia and Brunei with plans to complete the evaluation by quarter one 2022.”

Queenspree has been awarded the SME and Entrepreneurs Business Awards (SEBA) 2021, earning the Fast-Growing SME Award — Most Promising in Retail e-Commerce. SEBA is an impartial, independent and objective business awards that has uncovered and recognised deserving small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia. It is organised annually by the Entrepreneurship Foundation Malaysia and supported by the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry.

 
 
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