The recently concluded Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator program has funded two promising Malaysian startups – Arus Oil and Cult Creative all while the country was placed under complete lockdown.
The competition held earlier this month had some 11 startups vying for funding with founders and cofounders presenting their three-minute pitches online.
Organised by 1337 Ventures, the competition was judged by its founding partner Bikesh Lakhmichand, Yvonne Yong Chuan Yin, Head of Malaysia Digital Hubs and Corporate Innovation of MDEC, Ikhwan Nazri, CEO and Head of Creative of Amanz Media and Syed Haizam Jamalullail, Managing Director of Tuas Capital Partners.
“In this cohort, we saw an increase in female founders by 50 per cent from last year and intake and 50 per cent of the cohort are working on their startups full time from ideas borne out of the MCO,” Lakhmichand said in a statement.
“Testament to what a great Top 11 is seeing some of the teams being accepted into other accelerator programmes, receiving funding and offers for funds shortly after Demo Day.”
The other teams that partook in the finals were Altum, Cult Creative, EjenKita, GoGerak, Hawkr, Arus Oil, OtoFacts, SparkFit, Supageneous.Asia, TrinityEco, and Usku Technologies.
“Alpha Startups started seven years ago with Cohort one and now we’ve just concluded Cohort 36 where we announced two new startups we are investing into and kicked off cohort 37 shortly after that, ” he added.
He said the programme of which MDEC is a partner, shortens the path-to-discovery for promising, up-and-coming startups.
The chosen winners were selected for their great ideas, strong founders and sound growth strategies.
Arus Oil (MyProtech Sdn Bhd) is a used cooking oil recycling platform that offers the best purchasing rates and timely collection services for used cooking oil from individuals, households or restaurants while Cult Creative is an all-in-one professional networking and resource app for ambitious creative individuals to easily connect, up-skill and find work opportunities, to make themselves future-proof.
Welcome to dailystraits.com. Please send all interview requests and press releases to editor@dailystraits.com.