This VC says that Malaysia is a better place than Singapore to put up a startup

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Hello reader,

A couple months ago, a freelancer that we on the Studios writing team frequently work with dropped by for a visit. She’d come down from Malaysia to help a friend with a move and we got lunch together.

We’ve been working with her for several years now but this was the first time we’d ever even heard her voice, let alone see how she looks (small WhatsApp profile pictures notwithstanding). Shout-out to you, Sam!

Anyway, one of her first replies when we’d agreed to get lunch was this:

I think this serves as a microcosm of the relationship our two countries have: one of friendly rivalry.

So you can imagine my interest being immediately piqued when I saw the headline of today’s premium article: “Malaysia is a better place than Singapore to found a startup, says this VC.” I would also like to happily report that the article is a fun read, as with all of my colleague Emmanuel’s Dan Lain-Lain columns.

Read on and see for yourself.

Today we look at:

• A Kuala Lumpur-based VC’s thoughts on the Malaysian tech and startup ecosystem
• HelloGold’s decision to close up shop
• Other newsy highlights such as Stripe’s plans to go public and Dell’s acquisition of Israeli cloud management startup Cloudify

Premium summary

The need to think beyond one’s borders

Image credit: Timmy Loen

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