Pikom's SEADragon pitch platform returns for WCIT 2022 Malaysia

By Digital News Asia April 20, 2022

Main goal is to develop homegrown unicorns, prepare them to pitch
Partnering with ecosystem players such as GreenPro Capital, MDEC

Participants and judges at the April 7 pitching session. PIKOM Chairman Dr Sean Seah is 7th from right. CS Chin, CEO of SEATECH Ventures is to his right.

SEADragon, the sustainable Venture Pitch Platform returns for the second time. Organized by PIKOM, the National ICT Association of Malaysia, SEADragon is specially designed for startups and scaleups that are looking for investments, growth, and global market expansion. This is done through curated deal flows where promising companies get shortlisted and coached to be showcased to tech VCs and investors globally.

PIKOM Chairman Dr Sean Seah explains, “This year, SEADragon at WCIT 2022 Malaysia returns and we are looking for the top 20 Malaysian high growth tech companies to be showcased to the world at the World Congress on Innovation and Technology (WCIT) 2022 Malaysia from Sept 13-15. We will have global tech leaders, venture capitalists and investors at the final pitching session with these companies.”

CS Chin, CEO of SEATECH Ventures Corp explains, “The main objective in running SEADragon is to develop Malaysia’s homegrown unicorns, train them to pitch to potential local and global investors and develop global market access for them.”

Seatech Ventures, GreenPro Capitol, MDEC and a number of local startup and scaleup ecosystem partners are working with PIKOM. The next few months will see tech startups going through a series of pitching and mentoring sessions. The shortlisted ones will then match high growth startups and scale-ups with potential local and global investors (consisting of private equity, venture capital, corporate investors, high net-worth individuals) for investments, growth and global expansion and attract global investors and promote syndication amongst local and global investors.

“As a run up to WCIT 2022 Malaysia, a series of pitching events and mentoring sessions will be held to select and prepare the companies for the chance of a lifetime pitch. We thank SEATech Ventures, GreenPro and MDEC for their support for SEADragon at WCIT 2022 Malaysia,” continued Seah.

The first SEADragon 2022 pitching session held on 7th April 2022 saw 6 local tech companies pitch to an eminent panel of judges. PIKOM is expecting more companies to attend the next pitching sessions on the following dates:

28 April
26 May
30 June
28 July

The mentoring sessions will be on 23 – 25 August before the final pitching on 13-14 September. The top 5 winners will be announced on 15 September during WCIT.

Some of the main criteria that the startups and scaleups will be assessed on, include the following:

Main Criteria	Sub Criteria 1	Sub Criteria 2	Sub Criteria 3
Business Model & Financial	Financial Track Record	Past Funding Received	Growth Strategy
Innovativeness in Applying Technology	Innovation to deliver SDG/ESG and/or social inclusion values	Uniqueness on applying technology to deliver innovation	Potential Malaysia tech-unicorn
Execution Team	Founders Track Record	Integrity	Team Members Support
Viability	Key Customers	Market Share	Unique Selling Proposition
Strategic Orientation	Commitment to Goals	Operational Focus	Growth Strategy

Interested high-growth tech companies that are keen to participate in the SEADragon pitching series can get more information at https://www.pikom.org.my/seadragon/. In general, companies that would like to participate must be Malaysian-owned entities, non-listed and not be part of a listed entity that is involved in the tech sector.