ScaleUp Malaysia Accelerator Cohort 2 On A #Quest2Scale 20 Companies
By November 11, 2020
- Submissions came from all over the world, including Belgium, Egypt, India
- Startups are selected on their propensity to disrupt existing/legacy markets
ScaleUp Malaysia officially launched Cohort 2 of its well regarded ScaleUp Malaysia accelerator programme, based in Kuala Lumpur, powered by Quest Ventures on 22 October 2020. The launch was virtual and attended by partners and representatives from Quest Ventures, ScaleUp Malaysia, media, together with the participating companies.
ScaleUp Malaysia opened applications on 8 September and attracted close to 200 applications in the 20 days it called for entries. Applications were put through a stringent and rigorous judging process with the final 20 shortlisted based on 5 principal criteria:
1) revenue generation capabilities;
2) category leading product-market fit demonstration;
3) value-based pricing potential of scalable products and/or services;
4) multiple-market expansion/growth potential;
5) self-starting, passionate and coachable entrepreneurs.
While originating from Malaysia, the call for application also attracted interest from startups in Belgium, Egypt, India and Singapore.
Through their Pegasus scaling model, ScaleUp Malaysia accelerates startups from their growth and post-product-market fit stage into the scaling up stage to become businesses with high revenue growth and profitability.
The 20 companies selected for Cohort 2 are : Quadby, GenYouth, Hire.Seniors, ERTH, SMARTFUND, EzyOffice, Fefifo, Hatio, HAUZ, HOMA, Kiddocare, Load2Go, MMC, MyBump Media, POMEN, qijang, SUPERVISOR, tanalink, RECQA and Virtual X.
They were selected on their propensity to disrupt existing/legacy markets and/or have solutions that are able to navigate challenges and take advantage of opportunities brought about by the current economic climate.
Andre Sequerah, Managing Partner of ScaleUp Malaysia congratulated and welcomed all the participants to the programme. In his briefing, he said: “We have expanded the syllabus for Cohort 2 to really empower all of you here throughout your transition from startup to scaleup. Looking beyond the direct benefits that you will attain from this accelerator, we are also placing greater emphasis on access to capital, global expansion strategies and market access, which is why we have joined forces with Singapore based, Quest Ventures. In this new reality, we encourage all of you to be open and learn as much as possible from the programme to catapult your business.”
The 20 participating companies will undergo a 3-month intensive deep business coaching through group-based training on product management, finance, strategic planning, valuation, market access and more. They will also be part of a month-long investor readiness bootcamp to prepare them for fund-raising before presenting their solutions to an Investment Committee at the end of the programme.
Jeffrey Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures, said “We are impressed by the mentality and dexterity of the startup founders we met in Scaleup Malaysia cohort 2. The entrepreneurs demonstrated an incisive read of their markets and business targets, and critically their international outlook to scaling is inspiring. We believe that many from Cohort 2 - besides the shortlisted - will be able to build scalable, multi-market going concern businesses. We are excited by their realisable potential.”
In early September, ScaleUp Malaysia announced their partnership with Quest Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm to invest and scale the regional growth of top Malaysian startups which will see a Foreign Direct Investment deal worth US$1,000,000 (RM4,150,000) to develop and grow Malaysian startups. As part of the partnership, Quest Ventures will invest at least USD$60,250 (RM250,000) in up to 12 companies participating in the accelerator.
ScaleUp Malaysia has also opened registration for startups to state their interest to participate in Cohort 3. For more information on ScaleUp Malaysia and to register your interest for Cohort 3, visit: https://www.scaleup.my/