In today’s competitive market, it is important for startups and companies of any size to maintain their competitive edge and stay relevant. Corporate-startup partnerships have become increasingly popular to leverage each other’s strengths.
Corporates have abundant resources, from funding and access to talents that startups need. The agility of startups with fresh new ideas and solutions is something that corporates lack due to rigidity and structure. Corporate-startup partnerships create a win-win situation for both to positively impact the entire industry.
Corporate-startup partnerships are vital to Sunway Group’s journey to becoming the region’s model smart sustainable city, integrating technology and innovation towards creating a safe, healthy and connected environment for the community to live, work, learn and play.
To drive these initiatives forward, Sunway iLabs was launched to foster entrepreneurship and stimulate market-driven innovations, to help entrepreneurs become more competitive in this rapidly changing environment.
About Sunway iLabs
Launched five years ago, iLabs has created an ecosystem that includes startups, students, staff and researchers to build ideas with the same vision of evolving the city to the next level. These are the core elements for iLabs’ flagship corporate startup programme, the Sunway iLabs Super Accelerator.
The new partnership with Carsome, Carsome Mobility Lab, will offer the same corporate-startup benefits to startups disrupting the auto ecosystem.
“We are truly excited over this partnership with Sunway iLabs, as this is the first-of-its-kind accelerator in the Southeast Asian region to identify, partner and scale innovative startups. It is an honour for us to be supporting and boosting the entrepreneur and automotive communities through this unique programme. This is another huge step towards Carsome’s vision of creating the most trusted vehicle ownership ecosystem, powered by technology and data,” said Eric Cheng, Co-Founder and CEO of Carsome.
In partnership Carsome and Sunway iLabs, the Carsome Mobility Lab, a South East Asia auto-focused ecosystem accelerator that aims to boost the entrepreneur and automotive community has been launched.
This partnership aims to contribute to Malaysia and South East Asia’s growth in the automotive industry by enabling startups to tap into Carsome’s domain expertise and Sunway’s vast network of resources and thriving ecosystem.
The support given by Carsome and Sunway iLabs does not stop at funding and networks, but an end-to-end process where startups will have the opportunity to validate, and test solutions and business models in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur and Carsome’s locations.
There are two tracks in this programme:
Pre-accelerator
Selected startups will go through an intensive two months period filled with workshops, mentorships and business introductions with the Carsome Group and other industry leaders in the Sunway ecosystem.
Accelerator
The top startups will spend two months working on the synergies with Carsome and Sunway and executing the offered solutions within the ecosystem and ultimately making an impact in the auto ecosystem in South East Asia.
Why an auto-ecosystem focused accelerator?
Malaysia’s automotive industry has been an attractive outlook for automotive companies. The industry plays a big role in the country’s GDP contributing around 4% in 2021 and is the third-largest automotive market in ASEAN.
As the trend is moving towards digitalisation, it has driven the establishment of new startups that are introducing new solutions and business models which will shape the automotive industry in the years to come.
Even though the market is saturated with marketplaces, motor insurance aggregators, after-sales services and car rental platforms, there are many opportunities that are untapped in this fragmented market. With this programme, the aim is to ultimately bring the best innovation into the industry and benefit the consumer’s vehicle ownership journey.
What startups are we looking for?
Financial Services
Startups that have creative offerings for consumers including financing, warranty, insurance and etc.
Sustainable Mobility
In line with our commitment to Sustainability Development Goals (SDG), we are looking for startups who are offering green transport system solutions, e-mobility, sustainable vehicle ownership and sustainable tech.
Blockchain and NFT
NFTs have been a buzzword in recent months and we have seen significant growth of adopters in Malaysia. We are looking for startups who offer solutions on security, transparency, tracking, tokenisation and automotive gamification on Web3.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)
The use of AI and ML would significantly reduce human errors and with advanced technology, processes would be streamlined and benefit repetitive tasks in the automotive industry. The areas we are looking to improve would be driving insights, understanding consumer behaviour and personalisation through SaaS, analytics and the internet of things (IoT).
Connected automotive ecosystem
Startups that have solutions on integrated automotive solutions, personalised driver/owner experience, vehicle maintenance management, and driver safety and experience.
Aftermarket automotive design and hardware
Startups that have solutions for aftermarket lighting, vehicle accessories, collaborative design, voice and sound tech, automotive 3D printing and hardware.
Vehicle support marketplaces and providers
Startups focusing on eCommerce marketplaces for vehicle parts and services.
How to join the programme
The programme is currently open for applications and startups are being referred to the business units on a rolling basis. Interested startups can apply to the programme here through the Sunway iLabs website. Applications close on the 4th of July, 2022.
For more information and application, head over to the website here.
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Image credit: Sunway iLabs
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