15 exciting startups from Malaysia that raised funds in 2016

Despite talks of a cooling down in tech funding this year, investments flowed into Malaysian startups and we’ve noted both old and new names in the list.

Catcha Group’s portfolio companies secured huge amounts, while others raised mostly series A and seed funding rounds.

Here are 14 Malaysian startups that earned investors’ vote of confidence in 2016 and are doing promising work.

iFlix

In March, Rupert Murdoch’s European broadcaster Sky ploughed US$45 million in Catcha Group’s iFlix, Southeast Asia’s answer to Netflix.

The funding comes two months after Netflix upped its game, expanding to 130 nations around the world.

iFlix itself will launch in new markets and the funding from Sky will fuel this plan. “In response to both the rapid growth and customer adoption in our existing markets and strong demand from new markets, we have decided to accelerate our expansion plans for the business sooner than expected,” its co-founder Mark Britt said.

iFlix is available in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It raised a US$30 million series A round last year to boost its rollout in Southeast Asia and emulate Netflix in producing original content.

iCar Asia

iCar Asia, which runs automotive marketplaces, raised around US$17.4 million via the sale of shares to private investors and its major shareholders in September.

The ASX-listed company – also owned by Catcha Group – said it would use the fresh capital for product development, advertising boost, and expansion in greater metropolitan areas of the markets where it is present.

iCar’s network includes Carlist and LiveLifeDrive in Malaysia; One2Car, ThaiCar, and Autospinn in Thailand; and Mobil123 in Indonesia. Together, the marketplaces have 6.1 million buyers and sellers per month.

KFit

Fitness startup KFit scored US$12 million in series A last February as it branched out into new categories and markets.

iPrice

Jirnexu

ServisHero

Carsome

BookDoc

Nuren

TheLorry

RecomN

StoreHub

Tripfez

Favful

Supplycart