Second ScaleUp Endeavor program launched in Malaysia – looking for entrepreneurs who dream big, want to scale fast

• Target double revenue growth & hit cumulative fundraising of US$30mil
• Mentor paired with entrepreneurs to guide through complexities of scaling

Endeavor is a global high-impact entrepreneurship movement that works with growth stage businesses in 40 markets around the world. In addition to helping larger high growth companies, Endeavor has announced the launch of its second ‘ScaleUp Endeavor’- a structured program aimed at supercharging the growth of Malaysia’s high potential, late stage startups that aspire to be an Endeavor Entrepreneur.

The ScaleUp Endeavor Program is a non-dilutive structured program of 6 + 18 months designed to guide entrepreneurs through the complexities of scaling a business. The selected entrepreneurs will receive a mentor to journey with them throughout the program period paired to a customized series of blitzscaling circles adapted to their needs/challenges.

The entire ScaleUp Program this year is curated by the Endeavor Malaysia team based on learnings from the first cohort and feedback from the entrepreneurs; the interaction with existing Endeavor Entrepreneurs over the years and guidance from the Steering Committee. 

In line with Endeavor’s model of paying it forward for the next generation of entrepreneurs, the ScaleUp Endeavor program is supported by a Steering Committee comprised of outstanding, high calibre individuals, such as Endeavor board member Lim Chern Yuan (Group CEO of Yinson), Endeavor mentors, Mac Chung Lynn (Director & Group CEO of Nando's), Sharil Tarmizi (Senior Advisor at ASEAN Advisory) and Endeavor Entrepreneur, Leow Wee Jonn (CEO of Photobook Worldwide).

“We believe startups in Malaysia have high potential to scale their businesses. As we look forward to a more robust program this year, we aim to double the revenue growth and hit a cumulative fundraising amount of US$30 million (RM121 million) amongst the cadre of selected startups,” said Lim.

While the 2019/2020 program had 15 companies, for this second cohort, there is no specific target as long as the quality is there.

According to Adlin Yusman, MD of Endeavor Malaysia, “the content of the program is now hyper-adaptive to the needs and demand of the selected entrepreneurs as opposed to the highly structured program we had in 2019-2020.” 

In 2019-2020 (Cohort 1), 15 companies were selected for the program: AdEasy, CapBay, PTT Outdoor, PichaEats, Cytron, Oncode Scientific, Dropee, HealthMetrics, Klezcar, Trapo, Mossery, Supplycart, Vase.ai, FoodMarketHub and Katsana. 

Introducing three new value-added services

Beyond just extending the duration of the program, Adlin highlights the three new value-added service lines to the 24 months of support entrepreneurs will receive, which includes local and regional access within the Endeavor APAC offices. 

1. Road-to-Market access: Road-to-Market is an ongoing exercise for selected entrepreneurs to showcase their product and services to the affiliated companies in the Endeavor network that have volunteered themselves to test, adopt and potentially be long-term paying customers of these scaleup companies.
2. Access-to-Capital: When any of the companies are fundraising, Endeavor will connect them to the relevant investors/VCs. 
3. Peer-to-Peer: Entrepreneurs will get access to entrepreneurs within the Endeavor network, to learn from those who have gone through similar challenges/mistakes: real stories, real examples, real challenges. 

Adlin also explains that Endeavor Malaysia sees the 24-month engagement as an opportunity for it to take on a bigger role to build a more robust, resilient and sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem-especially during these challenging times.

Not your ordinary accelerator program

Endeavor Malaysia claims the ScaleUp Program is not your ordinary accelerator program, but a highly customised one consisting of blitzscaling circles which focus expressly on Business Strategy, Market Access and Scaling, Digitalization, Human Resources and Fundraising.

These sessions will be conducted by specific mentors within the Endeavor network who possess an abundance of domain knowledge and expertise within their respective industries. Endeavor stresses that the Steering Committee has taken ownership to create a program that is of, by and for entrepreneurs.

“We hope that successful companies from this program will subsequently be further supported with our existing Endeavor Entrepreneur track that focuses on growing large, high growth companies,” said Lim.

For this program, Scaleup Endeavor is looking for entrepreneurs who dream big and are looking to scale their businesses quickly. These entrepreneurs should be leading scalable and innovative Malaysian-based businesses with more than US$486,000 (RM2 million) in revenues and demonstrate at least an average of 20% YoY revenue growth.

Further details at https://bit.ly/3tRTvkR or [email protected]. Deadline for applications is 18 June 2021.

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