Sunway Innovation Labs (Sunway iLabs) together with Pan-Asian venture capital firm Gobi Partners, today kicked off the 2021 Sunway iLabs Super Accelerator programme pre-accelerator phase. A total of 23 start-ups have been selected to take part in the one-month pre-accelerator, which will end in a pitching event with Sunway.
Sunway iLabs’ Super Accelerator programme’s third cohort for start-ups seeking to deliver innovative solutions focusing on six key verticals – Smart Cities, Agrifoodtech, Edutech, Digital Health, eCommerce, and Fintech – received 115 applications from a number of countries. The start-ups were shortlisted based on three key criteria: growth potential, a market ready product, and synergies with Sunway Group.
Start-ups in this cohort include Abevosys, Aevice Health, Capsphere, eVulx, HomeCrowd, Inventira, Kabel, Maya Greens, Mimosa Medica, MindAppz, MyFarm Lab, MotionsCloud, RentGuard, Roomah, Singular, SmplrSpace, SpacePlus, Spargoeats, Trabble, Verofax, Vitamine, Vouch, and Wise Crafters.
After the pre-accelerator phase, only the top five start-ups will have the opportunity to implement their proposed pilot project with Sunway in the next three months, receive up RM100,000 in equity funding, and connect with major venture capital firms, such as Gobi Partners, SunSEA Capital and many more.
“We have been amazed by the quality of start-ups who have applied to the programme, with so many providing solutions to tackle urgent issues such as youth unemployment, food security and access to financing. We also see a lot of diversity in terms of startup maturity, funding raised and traction. That’s the beauty of the Sunway ecosystem, we welcome start-ups of all sizes to work in Sunway’s living laboratory,” said Sunway iLabs Ventures and FutureX Farms Head Eleanor Choong.
During the programme, participants will enjoy over RM250,000 in perks from Sunway iLabs partners, which includes Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Alliance Bank BizSmart Solutions, and many more.
The shortlisted start-ups are set to go through workshops and 1-on-1 mentorship sessions to refine their go-to-market and business plan, design a corporate pilot project, and pitch their project to Sunway’s 13 business divisions. The start-ups will also have access to Sunway City Kuala Lumpur’s thriving ecosystem as a testbed to conduct pilot projects and scale up their solutions as well as the opportunity to learn from Sunway’s global network of mentors and experts.
“We want to give entrepreneurs the opportunity to plug into Sunway’s 13 business divisions and ecosystem in order for them take their start-up to the next level. We believe that giving entrepreneurs access to the right ingredients to succeed, such as funding, market access, mentorship, and technology tools in a structured format is especially crucial in this day and age. It will not only speed up the development of pertinent solutions to address big problems that we are facing today, but it will also contribute to build a robust talent pool to make Malaysia a leading digital nation in the region,” said Sunway Group Chief Innovation Officer and Sunway iLabs Director Matt Van Leeuwen
