Maxis forays into corporate venture building, investing

• Taken a stake in Malaysian-based education analytics platform, GuruLab
• To empower entrepreneurs, businesses to bring innovation to market

In its bid to continue fostering innovation in Malaysia and spurring the digital economy, Maxis has announced its foray into venture building as part of its overall strategy to invest in and grow tech-driven startups and companies. 

In a statement, the telco said it is leveraging its leading network by providing tech startups and companies access to both technology and the human network to create more economic multipliers for the country.

It added that as the first of many venture building initiatives to come, the company has taken a "significant stake" in Malaysian-based education analytics platform, startup, GuruLab.

Tai Kam Leong, head of brand and marketing at Maxis, said becoming a corporate investor and venture builder is a stride forward for Maxis to empower local entrepreneurs and businesses that are looking to bring greater innovation in technology to the market. 

“We want to play a key role in scaling as well as connecting innovators, investors and shareholders, and government, in a shared goal to accelerate national digitalisation.

“As a strong homegrown brand that is committed to investing in Malaysia, this is aligned with our purpose to bring the best of technologies to enable people and businesses to always be ahead,” said Tai.

Maxis said GuruLab is developing a digital platform that empowers teachers to effectively provide students with personalised English education.

By applying the power of data analytics to students’ inputs, such as written work and verbal responses, GuruLab will have a detailed view of each student’s strengths and areas of improvement, it claimed.

The feedback algorithm then recommends the best learning materials and practices for each student, thereby addressing the shortcomings of the one-size-fits-all approach used by schools and tuition centres, Maxis said.

Maxis’ long standing belief in the transformative power of education led to an engagement last year with Wright Partners, a corporate venture builder, to explore opportunities in edutech. 

“When we met the co-founders of GuruLab, we knew that we found the right partners to take this venture forward, as they share our passion for education and it will add value to our own flagship community programme, eKelas,” said Tai.

Maxis and GuruLab have started collaborating for the eKelas English HIP Storyfest this year.

GuruLab will be curating writing workshops and offering their tech tools for the evaluation of essays written by students, Maxis noted.

“We are excited to embark on this journey as we believe that Maxis will confer GuruLab a strategic advantage by giving us access to a significant base for customer acquisition,” said Eer Kai Song, co-founder of GuruLab.

Beyond funding, Maxis said will also be providing companies that it invests in with access to support via its capabilities, experience and talent.