In Southeast Asia, Malaysia is a rising startup hub, offering businesses the benefits of speedy processing, improved infrastructure, and increased accessibility. Since the formation of Vision 2020, the Malaysian startup ecosystem, particularly tech-based companies have grown rapidly.
The government, venture capitalists, and accelerators have together played a very strong role in the formation of the tech industry.
25 Malaysian Startups to Watch in 2019
iFlix is an on-demand online video service in South East Asia.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Industry – Digital Entertainment, Video Streaming, Internet
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Aug 07, 2017
Venture
$ 133,000,000
Hearst Communications
Liberty Global
Moelis & Company
Delta Partners
Jungle Ventures
Catcha Group
Sky
Evolution Media
Herbert Smith Freehills
EDBI
PLDT
Mar 07, 2017
Series B
$ 90,000,000
Zain Group
Sky
Liberty Global
Evolution Media
Emc
Catcha Group
Mar 07, 2017
Unknown
$ 90,000,000
N/A
Team
Piktochart is an Easy-to-Use infographic maker to engage your web audience.
Headquarters: Penang, Malaysia
Industry – Engagement, Visual, Audience, Web, Infographic, Content Creators, Data Visualization, SaaS
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Oct 01, 2012
Seed
$ 150,000
Jun 30, 2011
Seed
Undisclosed amount
Chinaccelerator
Sosventures
Team
Person
Role
Period
Co-founder, Business Development
Unknown to Present
Elvin Lee
CPO
Unknown to Present
Chao Ng
CTO
Unknown to Present
Carsome is a used car platform where it helps car owners in the process of selling a car, from inspection to valuation and payment.
Headquarters : Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Industry – E-Commerce Platforms, Automotive
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Aug 24, 2018
Series B
–
N/A
Mar 7, 2018
Series B
$19M
Burda Principal Investments
Jun 6, 2017
Series B
$6M
Gobi Partners
Mar 2, 2016
Series A
$2M
IdeaRiverRun
Aug 24, 2015
Seed
$350K
–
Team
Person
Role
Period
Eric Cheng
Co-Founder and CEO
Unknown to Present
Jiun Ee Teoh
Co-Founder and COO
Unknown to Present
Aaron Kee
Corporate Strategy Director
Unknown to Present
MauKerja is a job recruitment portal that fills the gap between employers and job seekers in the market.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Human Resources, Recruitment
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
May 01, 2015
Venture
Undisclosed amount
OSK Ventures International
Team
Person
Role
Period
Ray Teng
Founder
Unknown to Present
RiceBowl.my is a job recruitment portal for Mandarin and English-speaking Job Seekers. It simplifies job searches and application processes for job-hunting convenience.
Headquarters : Bangsar South City, Kuala Lumpur.
Industry – Online Recruitment, Food & Beverages, Retails, and Job Placement.
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
RiceBowl.my is bootstrapped.
Team
Person
Role
Period
Michael Duff
Founder
Unknown to Present
Kaodim
Kaodim is a hire service which matches you with vetted and verified contractors, plumbers, electricians, personal trainers, and almost any other type of service provider.
Industry – Professional Services, Online Portals
Headquarters : Selangor, Malaysia
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Nov 6, 2017
Series B
$7,000,000
Square Peg Capital
Nov 01, 2015
Series A
$ 4,000,000
Venturra Capital
500 Startups
BEENEXT
East Ventures
Feb 14, 2015
Seed
$ 550,000
500 Startups
East Ventures
KK Fund
Team
Person
Role
Period
Jeffri Cheong
Managing Director and Co-founder
November 2014 to the Present
Fui Yu Choong
CEO and Co-founder
November 2014 to the Present
Nitesh Tak
Mobile App developer
July 2015 to the Present
iPrice offers online consumers the most extensive selection of products and brands, presented by hundreds of partners in Southeast Asia – all made available on one shopping website.
Industry – Coupons, E-Commerce
Headquarters : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Dec 19, 2016
Series A
$ 4,000,000
Gobi Partners
Starstrike Ventures
ECONA AG
Asia Venture Group
DMP VC
Venturra Capital
Dec 14, 2015
Seed
$ 1,200,000
Asia Venture Group
F2 Ventures
Starstrike Ventures
500 Startups
Venturra Capital
May 21, 2015
Seed
$ 550,000
ZALORA Group
Rocket Internet
Lazada Group
Asia Venture Group
Team
Person
Role
Period
Heinrich Wendel
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
CupoNation Malaysia is a coupon company which enables users to discover the best coupons to save from all stores and brands across all categories from anywhere around the globe.
Industry – Coupons, E-Commerce
Headquarters : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Oct 20, 2017
Series C
$12,200,000
N/A
Oct 20, 2017
Debt Financing – CupoNation
$ 10,200,000
N/A
Dec 10, 2015
Series B
$ 10,000,000
N/A
Team
Person
Role
Period
Andreas Fruth
Managing Director and Co-founder
Unknown to Present
Adrian Renner
Managing Director and Co-founder
Unknown to Present
Gerhard Trautmann
Managing Director and Co-founder
Unknown to Present
Ticket2u.com.my handles all your online ticketing and e-marketing troubles.
Industry – Event Management, Ticketing, Events
Headquarters : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Ticket2u.com.my is Bootstrapped
Team
Person
Role
Period
Chia Chung Yeong
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
DeliverEat is a doorstep food delivery portal.
Industry – Food Delivery, Online
Headquarters : Penang, Malaysia
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Feb 28, 2017
Seed
MYR 2,000,000
Team
Person
Role
Period
Leong Shir Mein
Co-founder
Unknown to Present
Tan Suan Sear
Co-founder
WOBB is a Malaysian job platform for Gen Y and Z.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Human Resources, Recruitment
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Aug 30, 2017
Venture
$ 398,300
Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd (Cradle)
Team
Person
Role
Period
Derek Toh
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
ServisHero lets you find local services from your phone.
Available in Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Professional Services, Online Portals
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Jun 28, 2016
Unknown
Undisclosed amount
Mar 20, 2016
Seed
$ 2,700,000
Golden Gate Ventures
Cradle Seed Ventures
Team
Person
Role
Period
Adam Burmister
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Paul Copplestone
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Karl Loo
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
CloudHAX is a search engine portal, supported by a solid background in research and developing platforms on par with Google and Yahoo.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Listings, Ticketing, Event Management, Property Management, Cars, Big Data, Web, Classifieds, E-Commerce, Online Portals, Mobile Devices
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Oct 01, 2013
Angel
MYR 10,000,000
Team
Person
Role
Period
Chia Chung Yeong
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Easyuni.com is an education portal that connects millions of students and parents to colleges and universities around the world.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Education, Marketplace, Advertising
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Easyuni.com is bootstrapped
Team
Person
Role
Period
Derek Toh
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Printcious is the place where you will find ideal gifts to suit any personality and occasion.
Headquarters: Selangor, Malaysia
Industry – Gift Ideas, Printing, Gifts, E-Commerce
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Printcious.com is bootstrapped
Team
Person
Role
Period
Vincent Tong
Co-founder, CEO
Unknown to Present
Henry Tong
Co-founder, CTO
PropertyHunter.com.my offers real estate listing updates from the region, property news with a user-friendly interface and comprehensive information about the properties with integrated social media functions.
Headquarters: Sabah, Malaysia.
Industry – Property, Real Estate
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
PropertyHunter.com.my is bootstrapped
Team
Team
Person
Role
Period
Michael Hiew
Co-founder, CEO
2012-18
Caleb Tseu
Co-founder, CTO
Flower Chimp is a flower delivery platform in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Flowers, Delivery Services, Gifts
Funding
Team
Person
Role
Period
Maximilian Lotz
Co-founder
2016 to Present
Niklas Frassa
Co-founder
Dropee is a B2B Procurement Marketplace which allows businesses to get related to buy and sell in bulk, and their Enterprise Solution allows businesses to streamline their operational processes to work more efficiently and effectively.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Marketplace, Procurement
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Jan 17, 2019
Seed
$341,000
Vynn Capital
Dec 1, 2017
Grant
MYR 500,000
N/A
Mar 31, 2017
Grant
MYR 150,000
N/A
Jan 1, 2017
Angel
MYR 300,000
Team
Person
Role
Period
Lennise Ng
Co-founder, CEO
2017 to the Present
Aizat Rahim
Co-founder, COO
AppSally is a growth-marketplace built by a team of digital marketing experts with decades of experience.
Headquarters: Penang, Malaysia. (Now in New Zealand)
Industry – Marketplace, Marketing, Growth Hacking
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
AppSally is bootstrapped
Team
Person
Role
Period
Adeline YV
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
HostelHunting.com is a digital community marketplace for students to find and book student hostel rooms.Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MYIndustry – Education, Internet
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Jun 08, 2017
Series A
Undisclosed amount
Accord Ventures
Hoop Partners
Dec 15, 2015
Seed
$ 500,000
Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd (Cradle)
KK Fund
Incubate Fund
Team
Person
Role
Period
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Dahmakan is redefining food delivery by creating a healthy connoisseur lunchbox, crafted with the freshest ingredients, MSG-free, delivered within 20mins straight to your door.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Food Delivery, Online
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Aug 08, 2017
Seed
$ 2,600,000
Y Combinator
Atlantic Capital Partners
Atami Capital
Apax Partners
Feb 20, 2017
Seed
$ 1,300,000
East Ventures
NFQ Capital
Grupara Ventures
Asia Venture Group
Feb 19, 2017
Unknown
$ 1,300,000
Team
Person
Role
Period
Christian Edelmann
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Jessica Li
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Jonathan Weins
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
MilkADeal reward users to shop online!
Headquarters: Selangor, Malaysia
Industry – Coupons, E-Commerce, Advertising
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Jun 01, 2011
Angel
$ 165,000
Team
Person
Role
Period
Shaun Lee
Co-founder
Unknown to Present
Wilson Quah
Co-founder
Unknown to Present
Alex Yap
CTO
Unknown to Present
.
The Asian Entrepreneur is a leading international digital business magazine with a specialized focus on the startup scene in Asia. It now stands as the most authoritative source of Asian entrepreneurship.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Consulting, Digital Media, E-Commerce
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Aug 3, 2018
Venture
$ 4,000,000
AJS Investments, Cavendish Capital, Sharp Capital, LP
Team
Person
Role
Period
Akhil Menon
Unknown to Present
Melvin Poh
Co-founder, COO
Unknown to Present
Harshul Srivastava
Strategy Officer
Unknown to Present
GridMarkets is a SaaS for visual effects, engineering, and financial services.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Animation, Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Financial Services, FinTech, GreenTech, SaaS, Software.
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Jan 01, 2013
Seed
$ 700,000
Nov 01, 2011
Series A
$ 300,000
Team
Person
Role
Period
Hakim Karim
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Mark Ross
Founder
Unknown to Unknown
Roomz Asia is a room rental portal in Malaysia.
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, MY
Industry – Internet, Marketplace, Rental Property, Service Industry
Funding
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Roomz Asia is bootstrapped
Team
Person
Role
Period
Ping He
Co-Founder & CEO
Jul 2016 to Present
Kok Hour Liau
Co-Founder
Jul 2016 to Unknown
Trey Chong
Co-Founder
Jul 2016 to Unknown
Funding Source: Crunchbase