Commerce for global markets assistant secretary, who is also US and Foreign Commercial Service director-general, Arun Venkataraman (front, centre) visited Sidec’s office to speak with the 11 startup founders.
SELANGOR Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari is leading 11 promising Malaysian technology startups in a series of investment and pitching events in the United States.
These startups were selected to join the four-day 2023 SelectUSA Investment Summit, hosted by the US Department of Commerce (DOC), in Maryland which ends on May 4.
The summit is the top investment event organised by DOC, providing a platform for global companies and economic development agencies from all US states to establish trade and investment links.
The Selangor government delegation led by Amirudin and state executive councillor Datuk Teng Chang Khim will also participate in investment roundtable meetings hosted by DOC and the California Governor’s office, said a press statement.
These 11 Malaysian startups –Asia Mobility Technologies, iMotorbike, ALPS Global Holding, Virtualtech Frontier, Boxcube, Entomal, Revenue Monster Group, QMed, Accendo Technologies, Kiddocare and Pod – were selected to participate in the “Pitch Malaysia: USA Series” programme organised by the state government.
The companies will participate in a week-long pitching and investment trip to Washington, DC and Silicon Valley in California, accompanied by several Malaysian investment agencies and venture capital funds such as Penjana Kapital, Permodalan Negeri Selangor Bhd, The Hive Southeast Asia, The SEA Capital and Sterling Equity.
The SelectUSA Investment Summit will be launched by US president Joe Biden.
The summit provides an opportunity for Malaysian tech startups to meet international venture capitalists and investors as well as potential business partners, enabling face-to-face meetings.
The startups will also take part in a pitching event, which is being held for the first time at the Malaysian Embassy in Washington, DC.
The event is expected to attract around 30 startup founders from Singapore and Taiwan, as well as 70 business and political leaders, besides members of the Malaysian overseas community and students.
The pitching event is already fully booked, with more than 100 guests confirming their attendance.
The startups are set to travel to Silicon Valley from May 4 onwards to meet with several venture capitalists and foreign startups who have established themselves in the US.
During the visit, the Malaysian startups will take part in a roundtable discussion with 500 Global, one of the most active early-stage venture capital funds, and other global venture capitalists such as The Hive USA, March Capital and Piva Capital.
They will also visit institutions such as George Washington University’s Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, AWS Startup Loft and University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Malaysian entrepreneurs based in Silicon Valley will help arrange meetings between the startups and investors that focus on early-stage startups.
The 11 Malaysian startups were carefully selected based on their exponential scaling prospects as well as their ability to raise at least US$500,000 (RM2.23mil) and earn at least US$1mil (RM4.5mil) in revenue over the past 12 months.
The sectors covered by these startups include smart transportation, metaverse, smart healthcare, biotechnology, gig economy platforms, ESG sustainability innovation, HR technology, financial technology and tourism technology.
Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec) chief executive officer Yong Kai Ping believes that some of these startups may have the potential to become “unicorns”, referring to companies that reach a valuation of US$1bil (RM4.5bil) without being listed on the stock market.
Past participants have achieved impressive results.
For instance, Nexmind AI, which offers multilingual artificial intelligence search engine optimisation services, received orders from the US and other international markets after participating in the “SelectUSA Investment Summit”.
The company has since received investments from regional venture capitalists and plans to establish a branch in New York.
