Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator startups showcase smart city innovations

By Digital News Asia October 18, 2017

The five are LuxTag, MHub, Campfyre, TechCare Innovation, and AppCable
Provided with resources and facilities valued at RM50,000 for each startup

Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator startups showcase smart city innovations

AFTER five intensive months in the Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator (CLLA) Programme, five startups have emerged with a host of new solutions that are designed to address the needs of the smart cities of tomorrow.

The five startups from the latest cohort are fintech players LuxTag and MHub; and IoT solutions providers Campfyre, TechCare Innovation, and AppCable.

These five startups showcased their ideas and pitched their business offerings to a group of ecosystem partners, venture capitalists, corporate partners, and investors at the CLLA Demo Day. The startups, which consisted of fintech and IoT solutions providers demonstrated their ideas and innovations as well as pitched their business models to propel their offerings towards commercialisation.

“This latest cohort of the CLLA Programme is proof that there is a myriad of ideas out there in the market at the tipping point of commercialisation, which need the right push in the right direction in order to realise their fullest potential. This is essentially the very reason why the CLLA Programme was set up in the first place,” said Cyberview acting managing director Mohd Najib Ibrahim.

According to Mohd Najib, these startups which are presently working out of Cyberview’s collaborative working space CoInnov8 have been given access to a host of resources that they need to further advance their innovation in order to make it market-ready.

“Our CLLA Programme is a large part of what Cyberview is doing in enhancing the innovation ecosystem here in Cyberjaya. While there are many tech companies here in the city, we recognise how the pace of technology is so swift that we must also pay attention to all the latest innovations that are being churned out. We are seizing opportunities with brilliant minds here today. They have the ideas and solutions in elevating Cyberjaya into a smart city and we can assist them in providing resources and facilities needed in their path towards commercialisation,” added Mohd Najib.

The selected startups were provided with resources and facilities valued at RM50,000 for each startup to be pilot and investment ready. These resources and facilities included mentorship in areas such as marketing, legal, and IT as well as leveraging a network of investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders.

“The unique proposition of the CLLA is that it supports startups with solutions that feed into a smart city’s needs. There is always that question of how we can improve Cyberjaya and meet the community’s demands, and it is clear from the incredible progress that we are seeing from the participants this time around that the CLLA is an ideal platform for them to grow their ideas into game-changing enterprises while having the objective of making a positive impact on society,” said Cyberview head of technology hub development division Mahadhir Aziz.

Cyberview is collaborating with Finnext Capital to ensure that participants are equipped with sufficient guidance and resources throughout the duration of the accelerator programme. Finnext Capital is an innovation enabler consulting firm which provides professional advisory to both corporations and startups. It also develops an innovation ecosystem through strategic partnerships, assists in capital funding, and connects startups to opportunities through its regional-wide network. Finnext Capital has worked with the previous cohort of the CLLA Programme.

A few of the startups from the previous cohort of CLLA Programme have made progress in receiving funding and piloting their ideas. Alumni of the programme, PrimeKeeper and TrackerHero have successfully raised a substantial amount of funds for their respective businesses.

As a result of the networking and showcase sessions during Demo Day for the previous batch of startups of the programme in March 2017, PrimeKeeper was introduced to the founders of D’Pulze Mall and since then, has successfully brought 90 merchants operating in the mall onboard their platform.

The fintech startup is also collaborating with merchants operating at the TSI Sports Arena. Other programme alumni, TrackerHero and CurrenSeek have also piloted their solutions in Cyberjaya since the showcase.

LuxTag has recently raised substantial funding from both the NEM community fund and PlaTCOM Ventures, the national technology commercialisation platform. LuxTag has also started exploring business opportunities with a company in India.

IoT solutions provider TechCare Innovation has increased their revenue significantly and has officially expanded its offerings in China; Appcable is preparing to raise funds for its parking mobile application via an equity crowdfunding (ECF) platform; Campfyre has formed a partnership with the co-working space alliance; and MHub has successfully expanded their user base - connecting with corporations like MRCB and Setia Haruman for potential collaboration through the accelerator programme.

“We are glad to see progress among the startups when it comes to commercialising their businesses. Ultimately, we want to facilitate the growth of these startups, and we hope that these solutions will be deployed in other parts of the country after being piloted here in Cyberjaya,” said Mohd Najib.

On top of Demo Day which saw the five participants of the CLLA Programme showcase and pitch their ideas and business models; a session was also dedicated to another set of startups for a pitch-off session, where startups aimed to out-pitch one another in front of potential ecosystem partners, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

Strategic partners of the day’s events which consisted of the Pitch Off Session and the Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator Demo Day were the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Malaysian Business Angel Network (MBAN), and Setia Haruman.