Malaysia: 1337 Ventures to invest in three startups

Visual of 1337 Ventures homepage.

By Shiwen Yap

May 9, 2017

Malaysia’s 1337 Ventures will invest in three startup ventures following a recent Alpha Startups pre-accelerator programme. These teams will receive $25,0000 in funding, AWS support and mentorship.

These ventures are DobyBox, a 24/7 Mobile-powered locker laundry collection service; HomeTaste, an on-demand, home cooked meals service which saw Andy Sitt from 123RF co-investing; and Bayar, a social mobile wallet that secured additional funding from undisclosed angels from Seek Asia and Google Japan.

“Sometimes an early stage startup needs connections and access more than money. We’re glad that some of the mentors that dropped by not only gave advice but also helped open doors. In the case of DobyBox, the founder gained access to pilot his service in 2 new locations.” said Bikesh Lakhmichand, founding partner of 1337 Ventures. 

The Demo Day gathered investors from various local and international VCs, angel investors and aspiring corporates like Digi that are taking an interest in working with startups.

Out of the 20 teams that were accepted into the programme, 11 gained entry to the demo day. Of these, more than half were at the ideation stage with no minimum viable products (MVPs) and the remaining had basic prototypes.

“With each batch, the level of applicants are significantly improving. We’re seeing more domain experts attempting to launch products to significantly expand their businesses,” adds Lakhmichand.

According to Lakhmichand, these currently range from an accountant attempting to build a micro-SME focused tax and accounting system to a launderette owner (DobyBox) attempting to find new ways to scale the existing business.

“We are inspired to see HomeTaste progress further in their quest to liberate urbanites in search of local meals on demand. They were graduates of the inaugural Digi Incub8 programme in partnership with Alpha Startups, which was aimed at nurturing early stage ideas from East Malaysia. This team and recent graduates of Alpha Startups has proven that there is plenty of promise in young Malaysians launching viable businesses.” said Praveen Rajan, Head of Digi-X.

The next intake of Alpha Startups will be focused on the game development vertical and jointly organised with Media Prima Labs and with the support of MDEC and Digi.

Also Read:

Media Prima Digital acquires REV Asia in $24.2m deal

Malaysia: Sunway Group launches incubator Sunway iLabs

Malaysia’s Axiata Digital invests $16.8m into Swedish insurtech BIMA

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW

Singapore Reporter/s

In Singapore, we are looking to double our reporting team by this year-end to comprehensively cover the fast-moving world of funded startups and VC, PE & M&A deals. We want reporters who can tell our readers what is really happening in these sectors and why it matters to markets, companies and consumers. The ability to write precisely and urgently is crucial for these roles. Ideal candidates must have to ability to work in a collaborative, dynamic, and fast-changing environment. We want our new hires to be digitally savvy and ready to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Most importantly, we are looking for hard-hitting reporters who work well in a team. Collaboration and collegiality are a must.

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).

Following vacancies can be applied for (only in Singapore).   

  • A reporter to track companies/startups that have raised private capital, and have the potential to become unicorns. SEA currently has over 40 companies with a valuation of over $100 million and under $1 billion.
  • A reporter who can get behind the scenes and reveal how funding rounds are put together, or why they’ve failed to materialise. She/he in this role will largely focus on long-format stories. 
  • A journalist to track special situations funds, distressed debt and private credit (from the PE angle) across Asia.
APPLY NOW