YouthsToday gets seed funding to keep kids off the mean streets

Jazz Tan knows what gangs and drugs can do to the lives of young people. Her own father got involved in all that and died when she was just 14 years old. So she’s made it her personal mission to move youths off the streets.

To do this, she founded YouthsToday, a platform in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that connects young groups holding events with brands that want to sponsor them. Today, the startup announced it raised US$250,000 worth of seed funding from China’s Gobi Partners.

Gobi Partners will help Jazz’s team expand into new markets like Indonesia and the Philippines in Southeast Asia.

The team understands their peers better than anyone else.

YouthsToday helps brands reach out to young consumers through its marketing campaign and social media services. Youth groups, in turn, receive funding from these brands for their university or extra-curricular events.

For each successful linkup, YouthsToday receives a commission from the brand.

The startup has more than 40,000 active youth event organizers on board, which are reaching out to millions of young adults and university students across Malaysia. The startup is officially endorsed by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education as a preferred extracurricular partner for over 60 universities and 300 student clubs. The company also works closely with over 50 corporations, including big names such as Sony, KFC, and Maybank.

“With this funding, we will be able to help more young people build their dreams,” says Jazz. “We will continue to strive towards creating a better society through youth empowerment and engagement.”

“YouthsToday offers brands a targeted opportunity to reach out to younger audiences and customers, which may be otherwise unavailable,” says Gobi Partners investment director Victor Chua. “As a company led and staffed by young people, the team understands their peers better than anyone else.”

Prior to this fresh cash, YouthsToday received an investment from Cradle Fund.