12 September 2021, Shah Alam – Top five startups walked away with a collective cash prize worth RM50,000 following the final demo day of the Fourth Selangor Accelerator Programme (SAP) with the support of Affin Bank Berhad (AFFIN BANK), a known startup advocate and also the main sponsor of SAP 2021.
The companies are:
- eMLab
- GFI Fintech
- NexMind AI
- Boss Boleh
- Farmy
Officiated by Dato’ Teng Chang Khim, Selangor executive councillor for Industry and Trade yesterday, the demo day and award ceremony was the culmination of the three months of training, mentorship and learning for the 30 participants of the SAP 2021.
SAP 2021 participants took the chance to pitch to renowned venture capitalists, corporations, and government agencies during the final demo day today.
The demo day was presided over by a panel of 7 judges who contributed 70% of the judging score for participants of the programme. The other 30% of the cores included their performance and attendance for the aspects of the programme.
The top 5 startups walked away with RM10,000 in cash each, Huawei Freebuds Pro and investment opportunities with SAP 2021’s strategic partners namely RHL Ventures, AgroBank and The Hive South East Asia, one of the eight foreign venture capitalists and local partner of the Penjana Nasional Fund (PNF) matching programme.
These startups come from a variety of industries with this year’s focus on five major pillars: Agritech, Fintech, Greentech, e-Commerce and Smart City Solutions (Proptech, Mobility & Logistics).
The 30 participants were carefully selected from 165 submissions. This year’s SAP also saw more registering for the programme compared to the previous year with 110 submissions.
The top 10 startups of the SAP 2021 (inclusive of Top 5) are: eMLab, GFI Fintech, NexMind AI, Boss Boleh, Farmy, Xhinobi, Umorie, i-3s, Securepay and SnappEd.
They received US$10,000 worth of AWS cloud credit, US$10,000 worth
of TM One Alpha Edge Cloud Credit, 1 year’s rent-free SDCC co-working space and Logitech R400 wireless presentation remotes.
Teng in his speech said that businesses related to Fintech, Agritech and e-Commerce especially have been booming following the Covid-19 pandemic.
He added that it is Selangor’s focus to recover the economy through digitalisation and adoption of tech in business operations.
“I also believe that participants of SAP 2021 will be playing their part in assisting the national economic recovery through these various initiatives that the government has set out.
“It is the government’s responsibility to provide the necessary platforms and initiatives to help the growth of the digital economy and I am proud to say that Sidec has been making great efforts to help the state government in ensuring that the digital ecosystem is sustainable and beneficial to the Selangorians.”
Lim Kee Yeong, Executive Director of Enterprise Banking, AFFIN BANK was also present during the demo day and award ceremony.
As the first commercial bank and main sponsor of SAP 2021, AFFIN BANK has always proudly supported Sidec’s initiatives to support startups in Selangor since 2019.
This commitment is in line with AFFIN BANK’s “Always About You” slogan to remain steadfast in nurturing and developing the startup community, a key driver of Malaysia’s economy, by providing them the necessary tools and continuous support on their growth journey.
“As always, we applaud Sidec for another successful run of this accelerator programme for the fourth year in the row. Their consistent dedication in creating one of the top platforms that identifies and cultivates industry innovators has highlighted our highly resilient and strong-willed startup community. It is these incredible self-starters that motivate us to continue supporting events like this,” said Lim.
Meanwhile, Sidec Chief Executive Officer Yong Kai Ping said that the selected 30 startups are all very competitive and skilful that the judges had a tough time narrowing down the best startups qualifying for the demo day.
“For the other 10 participants that did not get through the demo day, I hope that they will continue striving to develop more solutions to help the industry, especially during these tough times.
“I also hope that all selected startups will make good use of the knowledge and advice that were given to them throughout this three-month programme.
“With the increasing number of registrations for this round of the SAP, I am thrilled to see that many startups are taking this opportunity to showcase their ideas and solutions to be adopted by the respective agencies.”
Yong in his speech also took the opportunity to thank AFFIN BANK for its commitment in supporting SMEs, startups, and Sidec’s various ground-breaking initiatives in propelling Selangor as the digital hub of Southeast Asia.
The SAP is a structured three-month programme that aims to prepare 30 early-stage startups into becoming investment-ready businesses.
Apart from the cash prizes, participants received guidance from well-versed mentors in the community and learned from comprehensive workshops and gained the necessary industry-related exposures.
The SAP wishes to help participants in polishing not only their products and business, but their core team as well, through classes and mentors who have shared knowledge, experience, and advice to help the teams with their soft skills and pitching styles.
Previous cohorts of the SAP had 90 startups nurtured, with 43% of the participants receiving funding, which is considered a high success rate for startups.