by Chong Wewah & Hardip Singh Rekhraj
Picture this – what if our world is becoming like an episode of the infamous adventure fiction, Rick and Morty? In fact, we are heading in that direction where the world is digitalising like wildfire. Ownership of digital devices are soaring by the day, Internet penetration is rapidly permeating the most remote locations on earth, and technology is used to perform some of the easiest tasks in our life, like starting our vehicle through a smartphone.
This modern digital realm that powers the Internet of things (IoT) is heavily driven by a myriad of cloud services, where it is predicted by 2025 there will be over 100 zettabytes of data stored in the cloud. To put this in perspective, a zettabyte is a billion terabytes (or a trillion gigabytes)! These colossal figures may be impressed many as an indication of modernity but it comes with a equally massive challenges, particularly for developers.
The primary pain point in this context is unifying and streamlining multiple IoT applications from various cloud providers into a single easy-to-use IoT platform. This used to be a thorn in the flesh for developers globally, where coding had to be meticulously done from scratch to seamlessly integrate and centralise IoT applications.
However, one Malaysian startup has gone over and beyond to ease the pain of cloud developers by saving up to 30% of the usual time and effort invested in coding. Neuko has created a platform that provides businesses with the functionality to develop and manage IoT devices from one dashboard.
“We ensure reliable end-to-end integration into a single and IoT platform. Through our comprehensive APIs (application programming interface) and SDK (software development kit), Neuko can be easily integrated into applications of all businesses,” said Saiful Nizam Ismaail, Chief Executive Officer of Neuko.
As Neuko operates in the B2B space, it uniquely refers to all customers are partners. “When the buyer purchases our products, they indirectly sell theirs to us. When their business becomes ours, we will go through all lengths to ensure our services are seamlessly deployed with topmost assurance that their data is secure. As with all partnerships, we mutually benefit through shared profits, and we jointly shoulder all liabilities. This is how we earn the trust and respect of our customers,” explained Saiful.
Birth of Neuko
This startup comprises of four former Tenaga Nasional Berhad Energy Services’ (TNBES) employees who decided to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams by venturing into the tech world late 2021.
“Imagine a baby bird perched on the edge of its nest, preparing to move on with life. Just seconds before plummeting to its death, the baby bird’s wings are spread out and it flies for the first time. That is exactly how we started; we accepted the challenge and there has been no turning back since,” reminisced Saiful.
Saiful Nizam (with spectacles) and his co-founders (from L-R: Akif Abu Bakar, Zu Radzman, and Farhan Nafis)
As a result, the team decided to name their venture Neuko, which sounds very similar to cat in Japanese (Neko). Cats are simply symbols of the team, which explains the similarity. Cats, for instance, are very adventurous and will explore new places and environments regardless of the environment. Members of the team went outside their comfort zone to work on a project that is solving a problem that hasn’t been tackled before. Despite being a big step and pretty much a gamble, Neuko believed in their abilities and chose to focus on their main project. Likewise, cats are also fearless; they are always at ease about everything.
Unwavering Pledge
Services provided by Neuko are typically targeted at businesses that require remote data sharing among a large group of employees. In most cases, medium and large businesses will need to merge applications from multiple cloud providers, which will cost them a lot of money. Neuko takes pride in its highly negotiable pricing, where organisations can swiftly merge applications from different cloud providers without incurring exorbitant costs.
Additionally, this Fantastic Four team are ardent advocates of tech solutions that save time and effort, especially for developers. With the robust skills acquired from their former workplace and fuelled by passion in innovation, Neuko continues to explore other frontiers to enable businesses to increase their efficiency and productivity. As Neuko gradually expands, it continues to operate in a team of four.
This article is contributed by Venturous PR, a student-led communications agency from Taylor’s University, School of Media & Communication (SOMAC). As an entrepreneurial sandbox for senior PR undergraduates, Venturous PR strives to make innovative communication solutions accessible to Startups and SMEs. The project is part of Business Today’s social engagement initiative with PR students to promote ethical journalism. This Startup is part of MDEC’s Malaysia Digital Hub Community, which provides impactful intervention to facilitate growth of local tech companies.
