Malaysian ‘venture builder’ LaunchPad raises US$6mil

• Follows US$1mil investment it secured last December
• Supports startups in the pre-seed to seed stage

 
VENTURE builder LaunchPad said it has secured US$6 million in funding to launch new tech ventures, invest in early-stage startups, and fund its existing startups.
 
This follows a US$1-million investment it secured last December, LaunchPad said in a statement.
 
“When we set off, we were inspired by the Rocket Internet model of starting proven tech businesses,” said founder and chief executive officer Asim Qureshi (pic above).
 
“What we came to realise is that a lot of ideas proven elsewhere don’t necessarily work in South-East Asia, and the space is becoming somewhat saturated.
 
“We have expanded our focus to more original ideas, which allows us to potentially tap into the global market,” he added.
 
LaunchPad said it supports its ventures’ investment needs in the pre-seed to seed stage. Each startup gets access to shared resources which include marketing, technology, accounting and HR (human resources), and critical hands-on support.
 
The new funding round will be released over a period of two years, and comes from private investors who previously invested in Qureshi’s property business AIQ Global.
 
Currently, LaunchPad has six startups in its portfolio – online job platform SkootJobs;  payroll Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company PayrollPanda; attendance and time-tracking cloud service PunchinPanda; T-shirt crowdbuying platform Teeyoot; dining app Menyoo; and Middle East-focused job platform Pisheyab.
 
Qureshi previously founded ThinkProperty.my, which was acquired by iProperty in 2010. He was formerly a vice president at investment banks Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse.
 
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