With a raging pandemic, the past few years have been a difficult one for many Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia. But the year 2021 also saw historical moments made by startups in the country’s ecosystem which might just take it to the next level.

From the first IPO by a local unicorn to acquisitions by global companies, Indonesia continues to prove itself as a favourite destination for both investors and founders. The existing challenges that the market is currently facing only serve as an exciting stimulant for creative minds.

Here is a handy list of 27 Indonesian startups that have made headlines in 2021 with their achievements and milestones, as covered by the e27 team:

Pintu

Pintu, a mobile-first crypto wallet and trading platform, secured US$35 million in an extended Series A financing, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

With the fresh capital, Pintu aims to aggressively employ fresh people across all major functions and build Indonesia’s “largest cryptocurrency exchange”. Besides, the startup also plans to develop new products and features to improve user experience and make inroads into other asset classes, as well as to conduct mass-market education programmes.

Bukalapak

The first among Indonesian unicorn startups to go public, e-commerce giant Bukalapak made its debut on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on August 6, raising US$1.5 billion in its initial public offering (IPO).

Debuting at IDR850, the shares price rose 25 per cent and was capped at IDR1,060 (US$1=IDR14,369). Bukalapak wants to use the proceeds from the IPO to support the operations of its holding company and its subsidiaries.

Also Read: How millennials and the pandemic are driving the growth of cloud kitchens in Indonesia

Blibli

Even before this year, Indonesia is already home to many unicorn startups. Blibli is the latest to secure the status this year.

This information was confirmed by CEO Kusumo Martanto in an exclusive interview with DailySocial for its Mastermind column. “However, as a digital company, what we really want is to create a sustainable business with a positive value and impact for the society,” he states.

Kredivo

FinAccel, Kredivo’s parent company, has announced a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings II (VPCB), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Victory Park Capital (VPC), to go public in the US.

The transaction assigns FinAccel an approximate valuation of US$2.5 billion. It is expected to deliver over US$430 million of gross proceeds, including a private investment of US$120 million led by Marshall Wace, Corbin Capital, SV Investment, Palantir Technologies, Maso Capital, and sponsor Victory Park Capital.

HappyFresh

E-grocery platform HappyFresh has secured US$65 million in a Series D funding round, co-led by Naver Financial Corporation and Dutch investor Gafina. STIC, LB, and Mirae Asset Indonesia and Singapore, besides existing investors such as Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund and Z Venture Capital also participated, the company said in a statement.

HappyFresh will also use a part of the capital injection to put in place plans to improve service offerings.

GudangAda

GudangAda has raised US$100 million in a Series B funding round led by Asia Partners and Falcon Edge. The company stated that the funding round was oversubscribed as it initially targeted to raise US$75 million. It brought the company’s total funding to date to approximately US$135 million.

It is one of the Indonesian startups that have raised a significant amount of funding in a relatively short time.

Aruna

Fisheries and marine platform Aruna announced that it has raised US$35 million in a Series A funding round led by Prosus Ventures and East Ventures (Growth Fund). This news comes after the company raised US$5.5 million in 2020.

With the newly raised capital, Aruna aims to expand its presence nationwide and strengthen its supply chain infrastructure. This funding round has turned Aruna into one of the most well-funded fishery and marine startups in the country, following the steps of eFishery.

Oy!

Fintech platform Oy! raised a US$45 million Series A funding round led by Softbank Ventures Asia and MDI Ventures. The accumulation of the funding rounds is said to bring the company’s valuation to beyond US$108 million.

The company has also named minimarket chain Alfamart as a strategic partner which opens up opportunity for Oy! to enter the O2O segment.

Also Read: Fuse closes Series B in a GGV Capital-led round to grow its insurtech platform beyond Indonesia

BukuWarung

BukuWarung, a fintech firm that helps Indonesia’s micro SMEs digitise their business, raised US$60 million in a Series A funding led by American VC firm Valar Ventures, along with fintech unicorns Wise, N26, and Goodwater Capital. Former GoPay CEO Aldi Haryopratomo and Klarna founder Victor Jacobsson, as well as partners from SoftBank and Trihill Capital, also participated in the funding round

This brings the two-year-old company’s total funding raised so far to US$80 million.

TaniHub

TaniHub Group, which operates e-commerce and P2P lending platforms for farmers in Indonesia, has closed its US$65.5 million Series B round of financing, led by MDI Ventures. New and existing investors, including Add Ventures, BRI Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Intudo Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Tenaya Capital, UOB Venture Management, Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi, and Vertex Ventures, also joined the round.

With this funding round, TaniHub is now one of the most well-funded agritech startups in the country.

BukuKas

BukuKas, a digital ledger app for MSMEs in Indonesia, announced that it has raised US$50 million in Series B funding. The round includes participation from angel investors Gokul Rajaram, an executive of DoorDash, and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise (formerly known as TransferWise).

This news comes just four months after the company’s US$10 million Series A fundraise led by Sequoia Capital India.

GoTo Group

Indonesian unicorn startups Gojek and Tokopedia confirmed that they have combined their businesses to form GoTo Group. First reported by Bloomberg earlier this year, the merger and the launch of the GoTo Group identity have been one of the most crucial developments in the Southeast Asian tech startup ecosystem.

Though the company did not mention the financial details of the merger, in a press statement, they said that the agreement “marks the largest ever business combination in Indonesia and the largest between two Asia-based internet media and services companies to date.”

Social Bella

Beauty tech company Social Bella raised approximately US$56 million in a funding round led by L Catterton, marking the US-based PE firm’s maiden investment in Indonesia. Indies Capital, along with existing investors East Ventures and Jungle Ventures, also participated.

Social Bella will use the capital for product innovation and continued expansion across Southeast Asia.

Amartha

Amartha, a P2P lending platform focused on women micro-entrepreneurs, raised US$28 million investment from the Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II fund and MDI Ventures. Mandiri Capital and UOB Venture Management also participated in the funding round.

This follows the company’s US$50 million debt financing round from US-based Lendable in February.

The investment will be used to strengthen its community-based lending business and further develop its product.

Also Read: Yummy Corp extends Series B round to scale its cloud kitchen biz into 50 new locations in Indonesia

Bibit

Robo-advisor startup Bibit.id raised US$65 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. Prosus Ventures (global consumer internet group), Tencent and Harvard Management Company, besides existing investors AC Ventures and East Ventures also joined the round.

This round came just under four months after it secured US$30 million from Sequoia, East Ventures, EV Growth and 500 Startups.

HaloDoc

HaloDoc raised US$80 million in a Series C funding round led by local automotive conglomerate Astra with the participation of TMI, Temasek, Novo Holdings, and Bangkok Bank. It plans to channel the fresh capital towards expansion plans in its healthcare verticals and improve the patient experience on its platform.

Ruangguru

Edutech startup Ruangguru raised US$55 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from GGV Capital. With the new financing, the company plans to further accelerate its business expansion across Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

This funding round came just a year after it closed a US$150-million Series C round led by Global Atlantic and GGV Capital.

Shipper

Digital logistics provider Shipper secured US$63 million in a Series B funding round led by DST Global partners and Sequoia Capital India. The funding round also included the participation of Prosus Ventures, Floodgate, Lightspeed, Insignia Ventures, AC Ventures and Y Combinator.

This round comes less than a year after Shipper raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding in June.

Ajaib

Online investment platform Ajaib Group raised an additional investment of US$65 million for its Series A round led by Silicon Valley-based fintech VC firm Ribbit Capital. Participating investors include ICONIQ Capital, Bangkok Bank, and notable angels such as Nubank’s David Velez and Toss’s SG Lee.

This marks Ribbit’s inaugural investment into a Southeast Asia company.

Pluang

Wealthtech startup Pluang announced a US$20 million pre-Series B round led by returning investor Openspace Ventures. Other existing investors, including Go-Ventures, also participated.

This funding round comes two years after the fintech startup bagged US$3 million in Series A funding in March 2019.

Also Read: Ecosystem Roundup: GIC invested US$94M into Bukalapak before its IPO; All about the cloud kitchen industry in Indonesia

Xendit

Digital payment infrastructure company Xendit secured US$64.6 million in a Series B funding round led by Accel. The funding round also included the participation of Y Combinator, which brings the fintech firm’s total amount raised to date to US$88 million.

Warung Pintar

Micro-retail tech startup Warung Pintar announced the acquisition of Bizzy Digital, an integrated logistics and distribution supply chain B2B platform, for US$45 million. This is part of Warung Pintar’s push to solidify its position in Indonesia’s B2B e-commerce market, which it says is expected to grow to become at least thrice the size of its B2C cousin.

Following the acquisition, Bizzy Digital will still remain a separate entity as a brand and organisation.

Mekari

Mekari, a SaaS platform for human resource and finance management, acquired Qontak, a startup that provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and omnichannel communications platforms, for an undisclosed sum. Following the acquisition, Qontak Founder & CEO Brendan Rakphongphairoj will be joining Mekari’s top management. He will continue his leadership position at Qontak as one of Mekari’s business units.

This acquisition followed Mekari’s US$21 million Series D funding round led by Money Forward in April.

Hangry

Cloud kitchen startup Hangry announced an “oversubscribed” funding of US$13 million in an Alpha JWC Ventures-led Series A round. The funding round also included the participation of Atlas Pacific Capital, Salt Ventures, and Heyokha Brothers.

Hangry plans to use this capital to scale its business and open more than 120 outlets in total, with the aim of launching 20-plus dine-in restaurants across Indonesia in 2021.

Kopi Kenangan

The founders of coffee chain startup Kopi Kenangan launched an angel investment fund targeting early-stage Indonesian companies, called ‘Kenangan Fund’. Its average ticket size ranges from US$10,000 to US$150,000 per investment and is sector-agnostic.

It has invested in startups such as Dropezy, Bukukas, Noice, and Otoklix.

Traveloka

Travel tech giant Traveloka is planning to publicly list in the US in 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The startup has reportedly engaged JPMorgan Chase as plans to go public accelerate. Traveloka is said to be valued at close to US$6 billion.

Ula

Ula, a micro-retail e-commerce platform, announced a US$20 million Series A funding round co-led by Quona Capital and B Capital Group. The funding round also included the participation of existing investors Lightspeed India and Sequoia India.

This follows a US$10.5 million seed funding in June 2020.

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Mentorship platform ADPList bags US$1.3M from Sequoia’s Surge

Co-investors: Angels including ex-Gojek executive Crystal Widjaja; JJ Chai, CEO of Rainforest; Quek Siu Rui, co-founder and CEO of Carousell; Ting Feng Toh, co-founder of GetGo; and Zopim founders.

The plan: ADPList will strengthen its platform to assist professionals and students to access global mentors.

What is ADPList?

ADPList, short for Amazing Design People List, was started during the height of the pandemic in 2020 with a mission to democratise mentorship. It caters to the creator economy by giving people easy access to a global network of mentors through booked virtual meetings directly on the platform.

In 2021, it was incorporated in Singapore by two creators-turned-entrepreneurs Felix Lee and James Baduor. Prior to ADPList, Lee was a co-founder of Packdat, a trip-planning platform acquired by Passpod in 2018.

Besides one-on-one mentoring, the platform also offers small group mentoring, town hall-style talks and other formats. The site claims to have organically grown to over 20,500 mentees, 2,500 mentors, and over 5,000 booked sessions per month. Among them, ADPList counts executives from Spotify, Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, Nike, Netflix, Twitch, Coinbase and many more, among their mentors.

ADPList was among the 23 startups selected for Surge’s fifth cohort in June 2021.

Also Read: Sequoia Surge’s new cohort comprises a vegan makeup startup, an innovative email marketing platform and more

Bukalapak, Vesta announce tie-up to secure consumer transactions in Indonesia

The story: The archipelago’s e-commerce giant Bukalapak has announced its collaboration with Vesta, an end-to-end transaction guarantee platform to deliver “unparalleled security” to Bukalapak and its customers.

Plan: The tie-up aims to maximise approvals of legitimate credit card transactions, and thwart would-be fraudsters, bolstering consumer confidence in e-commerce and streamlining the online shopping experience of Bukalapak’s customers.

What is Vesta?

Capitalising on its 25 years of transactional data history, the US-based real-time decisioning platform employs analytics and authentication technology to increase approvals of legitimate sales for its customers while eliminating chargebacks and other forms of digital fraud.

According to DBS Insight Asia, Indonesian consumers are reluctant to shop online mainly due to increasing e-commerce fraud.

“Through this partnership, Vesta will focus on increasing approvals and stopping e-commerce fraud, so Bukalapak can focus on what they do so well; providing their customers with an exceptional online shopping experience,” said Shabab Muhaddes, GM for Asia Pacific. “Sophisticated companies like Bukalapak know they can scale faster by implementing an end-to-end transaction guarantee platform.”

Also Read: Bukalapak raises US$1.5B on the first day of its IDX debut, shares jump 25 per cent

Meet top five startups of Malaysia’s Sunway iLabs Super Accelerator programme

The story: Sunway Innovation Labs (Sunway iLabs), an investment arm of Malaysia’s largest conglomerate Sunway Group, has announced the top five startups from its pre-accelerator phase of the 2021 Sunway iLabs Super Accelerator programme.

The selected startups showed great growth potential and align with Sunway business divisions and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals.

The five companies are:

• Loop Foods: An agrifoodtech startup, operating as a multi-brand F&B, develops unique access to real and healthy food, including Spargo Eats, a farm-to-fork healthy meal delivery service.
• Rent Guard: A Proptech startup that automates property management for property managers, individual landlords, and homeowners with a platform connecting tenants.
• Singular: A Fintech startup offers a first-class investment management mobile app, aiming to democratise active and sophisticated wealth management for the mass affluents.
• Trabble: Singapore-based tech startup develops a guest engagement SaaS platform that empowers travel and hospitality businesses in adapting to return to post-COVID tourism.
• Wise Crafters: An Agrifoodtech startup personalises meal plans and kits to support healthy eating for customers.

What’s next?

The selected startup will run an impactful pilot project to validate the product with one of Sunway’s business divisions and tap into Sunway’s regional market access. Sunway iLabs will provide the founders with mentoring and coaching sessions with industry and technical experts, as well as connecting them with potential investors through a Demo Day.

Also read: Meet the new batch of 8 Vietnamese startups joining VSV Capital’s accelerator programme

What is Sunway iLabs?

Launched in 2017 as a joint venture among Sunway Group, Sunway Ventures, Sun SEA Capital and Sunway University, Sunway Innovation Labs (Sunway iLabs) is a non-profit entity with an aim to foster entrepreneurship and stimulate market-driven innovations. It enables entrepreneurs to scale their business faster through its broad partnership with the startup ecosystem in Malaysia and abroad.

The 2021 programme gathered local entrepreneurs and business experts like Naluri CEO and Founder Azran Osman-Rani, Dropee CEO and Founder Lennise Ng, and LAW Partnership Partner Raphael Tay to share their experiences and advice to the 23 participating startups of the pre-accelerator phase.

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Image credit: ADPList, Sunway iLabs

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Disruptive AI technologies can dramatically improve banks’ performance in four key areas: higher profits, at-scale personalisation, smart omnichannel experiences, and rapid innovation cycles. The stakes could not be higher, and success requires a holistic transformation spanning all layers of the organisation’s capability stack.

Any organisation undertaking an AI-bank transformation must determine how to structure the organisation so that its people interact and leverage tools and capabilities to deliver value for each customer at scale.

Currently, the widening divide between fast-evolving customer expectations and inertia within the bank reinforces silos and weakens the bank’s ability to respond to the demands of the new machine age. The challenge for leaders will now be to shift the organisation from this siloed structure to a radically flattened network of platforms.

AI banking platforms focus on delivering business solutions

Today, banks that recognise the value of AI and technology enabling better customer and business experience are moving steadily toward a platform operating model, levelling command-and-control structures to speed decision making and bring people together in teams relentlessly focused on delivering solutions that customers value.

In this agile approach, each platform can be thought of as a collection of software and hardware assets, funding, and talent that together provide a specific capability. While some platforms, such as those for retail mortgages, deliver business-technology solutions to serve internal or external clients, others enable other platforms with shared services and support functions (for example, payments and core banking).

Each platform is largely self-contained in producing business and technology outcomes and autonomous in prioritising its work to meet strategic goals within clearly defined guardrails, such as common standards, finance, and risk control.

As banks think about setting up a platform operating model, they should bear in mind that each platform comprises three main elements: strategy and road map, organization and governance and technology. When structured correctly, these elements will help a platform team set its North Star and carry out its mission in a way that creates value for customers and the enterprise.

Also Read: Jirnexu partners with over 5 digital banking license contenders in Malaysia

The platform model can help organisations seize new opportunities

Executing on a platform operating model is arduous. However, when done correctly, it has the potential to deliver four main benefits to all stakeholders: value-oriented business-technology partnerships, stronger performance (speed, efficiency, and productivity), transparency, and a future-ready business model.

The collaborative framework of the platform model brings business and technology leaders together as co-owners in creating value for the enterprise. Joint owners of business-facing platforms share accountability for outcomes, merging business knowledge of market opportunities with expert insight into how technological advances can enhance customer experiences.

The leader of the platform facilitates the interaction of business and technology owners in determining the right balance between run-the-bank and change-the-bank initiatives. All members of a particular team are unified in delivering a solution (just as those of the entire “tribe” of a platform are focused on a service line) in order to create value in alignment with enterprise strategic objectives.

This unity is reinforced by the fact that all team members share in performance metrics for both business and technology outcomes, including impact on users (internal and external), on-time delivery of solutions, customer and employee satisfaction ratings, and more.

The platform approach can strengthen an organisation’s performance in terms of speed, efficiency, and productivity when each platform is large enough to address a set of use cases crucial to realising the business model of the enterprise but small enough to keep the team agile.

Each team enjoys a degree of autonomy, with a budget and mandate to experiment and discover the best way to maximize value within a discrete domain in alignment with predefined guardrails (for instance, finance, risk, compliance) without having to wait for approvals from finance and allocations from IT and human resources. This autonomy speeds up decision making, innovation, and solution delivery.

In addition to the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, the platform model is designed to increase transparency, accountability, and knowledge sharing to the fullest extent possible.

Finally, shifting to a platform model can help an organisation future-proof its business model because each platform is incentivised to continuously improve on its technology landscape. Within a culture of continuous learning, team members are accustomed to change and adept at finding the best response to fast-evolving circumstances.

Interdisciplinary initiatives led by business-technology co-owners strengthen a team’s capacity to anticipate and consider potential challenges and opportunities before they appear on the horizon. Enterprise-wide standards, rigorous documentation of processes, and consistent cataloguing of technology assets enable teams to apply best practices as they develop and implement new solutions.

Also Read: E-commerce for the future: How open banking enables greater security and trust

Increasing collaboration and value creation with the platform operating model

By underpinning business-technology co-ownership of solutions delivery and value creation, the platform operating model offers banks an opportunity to maximise the impact of their technology capabilities in ways that count for customers.

The implementation of the platform model begins logically with the formation of joint business-and-technology teams focused on the design, development, and implementation at scale of new AI-bank innovations, always striving toward a more intelligent value proposition and smarter experiences and servicing.

The creation of cross-functional platforms is also an excellent approach to increase business–technology collaboration, developing an IT operating model that generates immediate and tangible business value and moves the full organisation, not just technology, to an agile way of working. However, to derive maximum value from platforms and the people who make up these platforms requires new skills, mindsets, and ways of working.

Bringing all these elements together is a powerful mechanism to optimize the full capability stack, from core technology and data infrastructure to AI-powered decision making and reimagined customer engagement. The platform operating model ensures that these layers run in sync to spur the growth of an AI bank of the future.

The full report, Platform operating model for the AI bank of the future, dives into how organisations can implement a platform operating model and what features are needed to further optimise performance and deliver value for each customer at scale.

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Etaily, an e-commerce enabler in the Philippines, said today it has secured US$1.6 million in seed funding from Ayala Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, Magsaysay Shipping & Logistics, the Boston Consulting Group, and unnamed angels.

Launched in March 2020, Etaily provides brands with a one-stop, omnichannel solution to help them sell virtually. From content production and channel creation to warehousing and fulfilment, it offers a full suite of services encompassing anything brands would need to attract consumers, transact online, and deliver their products.
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Etaily claims it has generated more than one million transactions and made more than 50,000 unique products available in countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

It has managed more than 20 brands across all online channels, activated more than ten offline retailers for online capability, and has a projected gross merchandise value revenue of US$10 million in 2021.

Alexander Friedhoff, CEO of Etaily, said: “We are connecting online brands and retailers to ASEAN consumers by integrating their business offline and online. The most important thing there is one winner, the final consumer. And we are happy to give them a fighting chance and to support end-to-end throughout their journey.”

Also Read: E-commerce enabler Great Deals closes US$30M Series B to build automated fulfilment centre in Philippines

Toti Wong, CCO of Etaily, said: “I think most Filipino retailers are quickly learning that e-commerce is becoming more complex. The marketplaces in 2017 were different than that of today. In the coming months and years, this will not get any simpler. As an e-commerce enabler, Etaily’s role is to navigate these complexities for sellers and brands, so they don’t have to learn all these things themselves. They can then focus on their core business of brand management, distribution, and retailing.”

Tatiana Cziormer, COO of Etaily, said: “As e-commerce grows in SEA and the Philippines, we know it will become more complex. The SMEs will have to be on different stages and we have to provide solutions for them. We need to innovate and create new technology for them. At the end of the day, we hope Filipino brands and retailers will become competitive, especially in the global market. We want to bring down the geographical and commercial barriers so that we can introduce to the global market brands that Filipinos love.”

In May, Great Deals E-Commerce Corporation, a leading e-commerce enabler in the Philippines, raised US$30 million in Series B funding round, led by local logistics major Fast Group, which was also joined by CVC Capital Partners and Navegar.

According to International Trade Administration, COVID-19 has increased demand for e-commerce in the Philippines. While the younger population was already open to online shopping, the need for social distancing has pushed the cash centric and face to face shopping culture towards a more digital one, and this is expected to continue.

What is lacking is proper digital and logistics infrastructure to truly enable a digital economy. There needs to be higher bandwidth capacity to service the retail market.

Plus, Filipinos are prolific users of social media. Estimates in 2020 showed that there were 76 million active social media users in the country. Of this, 75 million are on Facebook, 12 million on Twitter, and 4 million on LinkedIn.

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Image Credit: Etaily

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With one of the world’s fastest-growing tech ecosystems, it is no wonder that Southeast Asia’s startups collectively attracted investments totalling US$8.2 billion last year amidst a global pandemic. 

Malaysia alone is poised to capture US$11.84 billion investments in the digital economy over the course of a five-year plan spanning 2021 to 2025. Having managed to raise a total of US$226 million in 2019 alone, the country’s vibrant startup ecosystem encompasses a full range of verticals including fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, blockchain, and many more.

Much of this has unsurprisingly been driven by the pandemic. We are seeing record rates of digital adoption, with 40 million new internet users in the last year alone. With working from home gradually becoming the norm, people are turning to digital solutions, which offer convenience and safety, especially amidst heightened concerns about hygiene. In Southeast Asia, one in three internet users tried new digital services last year solely because of the pandemic. 

For global startups, Malaysia is the perfect gateway into Southeast Asia

Malaysia is located smack in the middle of Southeast Asia, with easy access to neighbouring countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, all of which similarly boast burgeoning tech ecosystems. 

The country is also multiethnic and multilingual, with more than 137 languages being spoken. This includes major languages like English, Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, and Tamil, which gives homegrown startups an edge when they eventually expand internationally. Malaysia’s diversity also reflects its position as a microcosm of Southeast Asia. Global startups can use Malaysia as a platform for understanding different consumer behaviours and have a taste of what it is like to establish a presence in the rest of the region.

Also read: How these India-based startups are changing the way we live, play, and learn

Furthermore, Malaysia boasts a very supportive regulatory environment and government agencies that actively spearhead initiatives to advance the local tech ecosystem, uplifting domestic startups while welcoming global ones. This includes programmes that help international startups localize and understand the Malaysian market, as well as programmes that build up the country’s tech talent pool.

How StixFresh is changing the game

One of the homegrown success stories is foodtech startup StixFresh. The company’s primary product is simple: a sticker that keeps fruit fresh for up to fourteen days.

But the mission behind it is much larger. By prolonging the shelf life of fruit, many positive externalities are generated. Not only does this prevent food waste, but it also reduces associated costs, such as shipping and logistics costs, and ultimately contributes toward tackling real-world, large-scale challenges like overpopulation, hunger, and the spiralling cost of food. StixFresh’s solutions also contribute to the circular economy approach where useful material, once seen as waste, is recycled back into the supply chain.

StixFresh’s all-natural and safe sticker is coated with a mix of sodium chloride and beeswax. This mixture slows down the ripening process, which then increases the shelf life of fruit by three to four times and improves its quality, taste, and texture. 

The company was established in Malaysia in 2017 after founder and chief executive officer Zhafri Zainuddin spent almost three years developing the sticker. 

“We want to be an essential link that makes up the circular economy, not only from a national point of view, but from a global viewpoint,” said Zainuddin.

Their sticker currently works with fruit like apples, pears, avocados, oranges, and other citrus fruits. However, StixFresh acknowledges that Southeast Asia presents a different challenge due to the diverse species of fruit across the region, and are currently trying to combat this through innovation and research in their labs.

Also read: Building Malaysia’s fintech ecosystem

By tackling the issue of food waste, StixFresh is doing its part to make the world a little more sustainable, one step at a time.

“In order to understand fruit wastage, we have to understand how fruits are wasted,” said Zainuddin.

Typically, he shared, for every fruit we eat, another fruit gets thrown away. This happens throughout the fruit supply chain. For example, if a batch of fruit is infected with fungi from the farm and is transported together in a five-tonne lorry, the fungi might break out and cause the fruit to go bad, or the fruit might not meet retail aesthetics. The fruits then get thrown away, despite being edible. Such a situation could happen for up to 10 to 20 per cent of fruits being transported.

StixFresh’s technology is patented globally and certified by the United States Food and Drug Administration with a Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) certification and is the only such shelf extension technology in the world. 

To date, 300,000 stickers have been purchased by Malaysia’s Department of Agriculture. StixFresh has also won multiple awards, such as the Best Malaysian Startup in Asia Rice Bowl award. The startup also clinched the top prize in the Lifestyle category during Gobi Partners’ Superseed II Championship.

Exploring Southeast Asia with the power of MaGIC

The startup will be working closely with the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) in order to develop its technology and innovation plans in the country. 

“We look to leverage MaGIC’s expansive network to penetrate into industry players’ networks and establish win-win collaborations,” said Zainuddin.

MaGIC is an innovation and creative centre under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. Headquartered in Cyberjaya, MaGIC organizes programmes and initiatives that facilitate the development of Malaysia’s vibrant and buzzing tech ecosystem.

Also read: Messaging tips for startups: a primer on improving one’s customer service

Aside from uplifting local startups, MaGIC also helps global startups expand into Southeast Asia. One such programme is the Global Accelerator Programme, which nurtures global startups to investment-ready status. MaGIC also periodically opens applications to MyStartupHub (MSH), a soft-landing program for innovative global startups from all over the world to establish a business hub in Malaysia.

MSH enables MaGIC to assist startups in business set-up, talent recruitment, and vertical-specific market access via their network of partners including government agencies, corporates, and universities.

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This article is produced by the e27 team, sponsored by MaGIC

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