Nexea, Malaysian agency announce third collaboration for startup accelerator

Venture capital firm Nexea and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) have renewed their collaboration to organize another edition of Entrepreneurs Program, their six-month startup accelerator.

Photo credit: Nexea

The renewal marks the third time that Nexea and MDEC have teamed up for the initiative, which brings tech startup founders and CEOs together to network and solve business problems. It also gives entrepreneurs access to mentors and private, peer-to-peer learning sessions from people in non-competing industries.

Since launching the program with Nexea, MDEC has supported over 32 startups that took part in the first two groups of the program. Despite the Covid-19 outbreak, 10 of the startups have successfully raised a total of over 33 million ringgit (US$7.8 million) within eight months.

One of those startups is Lapasar, a business-to-business wholesale tech startup that raised almost US$1.8 million amid the pandemic.

Founder and CEO Thinesh Kumar said the company saw a growth in demand after the first lockdown and needed to raise more funds to meet it. “We ended up raising the capital in May 2021 (after joining the Entrepreneurs Program), and Lapasar is on a growth trajectory like never before.”

As of the first quarter of 2021, the Entrepreneurs Program has driven around US$13.5 million in combined revenue, close to US$72 million in combined valuations, and US$13.5 million in combined funding for the entrepreneurs who participated.

In addition to the Entrepreneurs Program, Nexea also recently opened applications for a five-month program called Corporate Accelerator, which offers multiple investment rounds for participating firms.

Currency converted from Malaysian ringgit to US dollar: US$1 = 4.23 ringgit.