ScaleUp Malaysia Accelerator Cohort 2 on a quest to scale more startups

Recently, ScaleUp Malaysia virtually launched Cohort 2 of their famed ScaleUp Malaysia accelerator programme, powered by Quest Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, The launch was attended by Partners and representatives from Quest Ventures, ScaleUp Malaysia, trade press, together with the participating companies.

ScaleUp Malaysia attracted close to 200 applications when it opened applications on 08 September. The applications were put through a stringent and rigorous judging process. The final 20 were shortlisted based on five principal criteria such as:

revenue generation capabilities;
category leading product-market fit demonstration;
value-based pricing potential of scalable products and/or services;
multiple-market expansion/growth potential;
self-starting, passionate and coachable entrepreneurs.

Through their Pegasus scaling model, ScaleUp Malaysia accelerates startups from their growth and post-product market fit stage into the scaling up to become businesses with high revenue growth and profitability.

The 20 companies selected for Cohort 2 are Quadby, GenYouth, Hire.Seniors, ERTH, SMARTFUND, EzyOffice, Fefifo, Hatio, HAUZ, HOMA, Kiddocare, Load2Go, MMC, MyBump Media, POMEN, qijang, SUPERVISOR, tanalink, RECQA and Virtual X.

They were selected on their propensity to disrupt existing/legacy markets and/or have solutions that are able to navigate challenges and take advantage of opportunities brought about by the current economic climate.

Andre Sequerah, Managing Partner of ScaleUp Malaysia in his briefing to the participants, said they have expanded the syllabus for Cohort 2 to really empower all of them throughout their transition from startup to scaleup.

“Looking beyond the direct benefits that you will attain from this accelerator, we are also placing greater emphasis on access to capital, global expansion strategies and market access, which is why we have joined forces with Quest Ventures. In this new reality, we encourage all of you to be open and learn as much as possible from the program to catapult your business,” Sequerah said.

The 20 participating companies will undergo a 3-month intensive deep business coaching through group-based training on product management, finance, strategic planning, valuation, market access and more. They will also be part of a month-long investor readiness bootcamp to prepare them for fund-raising before presenting their solutions to an Investment Committee at the end of the programme.

Jeffrey Seah, Partner at Quest Ventures, said “We are impressed by the mentality and dexterity of the startup founders we met in Scaleup Malaysia cohort 2.

The entrepreneurs demonstrated their incisive read of their markets and business targets, and critically their international outlook to scaling is inspiring. We believe that many from Cohort 2 – besides the shortlisted – will be able to build scalable, multi-market going concern businesses. We are excited by their realisable potential,” Seah said.

In early September, ScaleUp Malaysia announced their partnership with Quest Ventures, to invest and scale the regional growth of top Malaysian startups which will see a Foreign Direct Investment deal worth USD1,000,000 (RM4,150,000) to develop and grow Malaysian startups.

As part of the partnership, Quest Ventures will invest at least USD60,250 (RM250,000) in up to 12 companies participating in the accelerator.