Malaysian Start-Ups

Back in February and March of 2008, I did a series of blogposts about bloggers who were running for election.

I wasn't the only blogger participating, but our collective efforts, from blogging to campaigning, certainly cranked up the political machinery.

That was a whole 11 years ago, and needless to say, things have changed since.

This year, I am going to do a new series on Malaysian start-ups - I will not be paid a single sen, but I think the rest of you folks need to get to know our fellow Malaysians better.

I was reading a fair bit about business opportunities in Malaysia when I came across this piece by a seed stage venture capital firm called 500 Startups.

They are currently on their second fund called Durian II and boast of having invested in 119 start-ups in South East Asia.

This what they say of this region:

Beyond spending money well, there’s something people tend to forget. Southeast Asia’s new generation of founders hail from a variety of backgrounds: existing industry experts, foreigners, and local talent coming home from experiences overseas. Binding the social fabric between them is crucial for a self-generating ecosystem.

This talent is not going far if the masses aren't recognising and supporting it. It's interesting to note how we have evolved:

Southeast Asia’s GDP is way ahead of its venture capital availability relative to India, China, and the U.S. The top 10 cities in Southeast Asia have almost double the Facebook users of the top 10 cities in the U.S. Startups here can be built more cheaply, and reach more customers faster than many developing nations. Taking a walk in any Southeast Asian city, one will see the spending power of Southeast Asia’s middle class at work. Because most startups here target this segment of consumers, investing in startups here has less to do with national data, and more to do in the story of the booming urban population of its cities.

We may have turds like Najib who give us a bad name, but it appears that the rest of us South East Asians are more educated and have a lot more disposal income than the previous generations. Some of us even come with a conscience. We may as well do useful things with those advantages.

A lot of the start-ups deal with connecting people, correcting social difficulties, and providing good quality to its users.

This won't be the only thing I am going to blog about, but I think you'd enjoy it.

Oh, and if you do know of a really good start-up that deserves a shout-out, drop me a comment.