18 Malaysian startups poised to breakout in 2015

2014 turned out to be quite a mixed bag for Malaysia’s startup community. On one hand, homegrown online payment company MOL Global listed in the US, but hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. Popular taxi hailing app GrabTaxi raised round after round of funding, the latest of which – a US$250 million series D round – was arguablly record-breaking with regards to the size of the amount. Also, Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and its talented CEO Cheryl Yeoh burst onto the scene earlier this year, and they’ve done much in attempting to “fill the gaps and connect the dots” in recent months.

Additionally, the 2015 budget featured a slew of measures pertaining to entrepreneurship.

On the flipside, however, local authority figures haven’t been entirely supportive of the progress technology has wrought. Both Facebook and YouTube have faced the threat of banishment – though no real action was taken against them – and Uber faced the wrath of the taxi association, which declared it to be illegal.

Where they have lent their support, it is half-hearted. 70 percent of the Axiata Digital Innovation Fund – a joint venture between Malaysia Venture Capital Management (Mavcap) and local telco Axiata – for example, was earmarked for the bumiputera entrepreneurs – those of the Malay race – only. Meanwhile, the aforementioned 2015 budget was not evenly distributed either – 70 percent of the US$153 million set aside by governmental agency TEKUN for entrepreneurship will go to local Malay entrepreneurs as well. MaGIC’s budget was also slashed for the coming year.

Despite taking two steps backward after a step forward, Malaysian startups have shown their resilience and innovation – several have proven themselves to be a step above the rest, and Tech in Asia has taken note of them. Here are 18 of Malaysia’s finest startups that we expect will make it big in 2015.

Shoppr

The team behind the Tinder-like shopping app came together through an interesting series of events that started with a blank cheque. They have so far won a handful of startup competitions, such as AngelHack Kuala Lumpur and the MYDD AT&T Hackathon, and feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive,” according to CEO Kendrick Wong.

With ambitions to become the leader of mobile fashion discovery and shopping in Southeast Asia, they are currently raising a round of funding to achieve just that, and within two weeks of opening the round, they already have a couple of offers from VCs. Wong is hoping to seal the deal soon.