Week in Review: Malaysian big data champion, Fusionex, faces the heat

• Citing undervalued shares, company proposes delisting from AIM, vote to happen June 15
• Much expectations in Malaysia on Fusionex success as enterprise software champion

THE headlines should have been about its powerful suite of Big Data & Analytics tool, GIANT, but instead, Fusionex International Plc and its founder and chief executive officer, Ivan Teh are fending off questions from upset minority investors over its proposed delisting exercise with the vote to happen in Malaysia, on June 15 at an EGM.

With London’s Alternative Investment Markets (AIM) requiring 75% as the clincher for any vote taken by shareholders, the proposed de-listing is no sure thing. But you wouldn’t know it from the comments posted on the article Goh Thean Eu wrote.  

And while Teh tells DNA that the persistent undervaluing of his shares is his primary motive, come what may on June 15, Teh has a massive job ahead to repair the damage to his corporate brand and to get his side of the story out.

This just adds to the pressure the soft spoken and polite Teh faces in Malaysia where the government is expecting him to grow Fusionex into one of the top BDA companies in Asia and in the process give the country its star enterprise computing winner and inspire other Malaysian entrepreneurs to create winning software companies as well.

Expectations are especially high after MOL Global stumbled after its Nasdaq listing in 2014 and delisted last year. And while Grab, the ride hailing app, is Malaysian born, led by Malaysian founders and has its main operations in Malaysia, globally it is seen as Singaporean, thanks to its HQ based in Singapore after it got in Temasek as an investor in 2015 and its Singapore R&D centre.

With an aggressive agenda to be a leading digital economy, Malaysia is eager to see its first star tech company emerge to further boost its efforts to transition to a digital economy.

Whatever the EGM decision, there will be many hoping Teh, a DNA Digerati50, and Fusionex recover from this and power on.

Speaking of powering on, e-commerce in Southeast Asia is definitely powering on. Not just is the space ripe for further innovation, we at DNA keep getting pitches from entrepreneurs confident they have the answer to the various pain points in the e-commerce value chain.

And that confidence will no doubt be even higher now with the news that Gobi Ventures and the Malaysian Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap), through their Gobi Mavcap Asean SuperSeed Fund, have enjoyed their first 2017 exit through an e-commerce startup, Hermo.

Having invested in the Johor-based startup in 2015, Gobi has exited Hermo with a 91% IRR to Japanese listed company istyle. Mavcap CEO, Jamaludin Bujang hailed the exit. “Deals like this show the world that Malaysian entrepreneurs are ready to take on the challenge of entering global markets.”

Before I wrap up this later than usual weekly wrap, do also check out our first ever article about the world of Cosplay and how intertwined it is to the gaming world. The article is the first in a series of articles we will be running in the run up to next month’s HotShotz Asia, DNA’s eGames Festival that will be held from July 22-23. You can get more information on the website or Facebook page. Registration for the fourth gaming qualifier is also open.

With that, I hope you have had a restful weekend and I wish you a productive week ahead.

Editor’s Picks:

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E-commerce ready for innovation

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Citrix Asia-Pacific will ride the cloud to rise to CEO's lofty vision

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