Malaysia’s 1337 Ventures teams up with insurer FWD to launch accelerator

Malaysia-based venture capital firm 1337 Ventures has teamed up with FWD Insurance for a flagship accelerator for local fintech and insurtech startups.

The 1337 team / Photo credit: 1337 Ventures

Called Alpha Startups, the program aims to incubate and accelerate startups through investment, mentorship, and connections in the fintech and insurtech spaces.

It’s set to provide 25 startups in its first round with coverage of relevant modules as well as access to relevant tools and mentorship services. After the first round, the top 10 participants will undergo further mentorship and then pitch their ideas to regional investors and companies through a demo day.

During the demo day, two startups will be given 150,000 ringgit (US$36,350) each from 1337 Ventures and FWD, as well as 500,000 ringgit (US$121,200) worth of infrastructure credits for their cloud infrastructure, recruitment, marketing and payment gateway needs.

The chosen startups will also work with FWD for a proof of concept and springboard into the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre, where they will be given a leg up when applying for the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox to test and accelerate their products.

Applications for the program are currently open and set to run until 25 startups are selected.