Runcloud.io is champion of Startup World Cup Malaysia Regional 2018
By Kiranjit Kaur Sidhu April 20, 2018
- Startup headed to San Francisco in May for finals, stands chance to win US$1mil
- MDEC sees event as catalyst to increase number of enduring, high-growth startups
STARTUP World Cup, organised by Silicon Valley based Fenox Venture Capital included Malaysia for the 2018 edition with a regional final held in Kuala Lumpur yesterday at Sunway iLabs. SEA regional manager of Fenox Venture Capital, Retno Dewati shared that Fenox sees Malaysia’s potential to produce world class startups and was excited to hold a regional finals here.
“Malaysia has been rapidly gaining attention as one of the most exciting startup hubs in Southeast Asia (SEA) with a robust startup ecosystem. There is a diversity of ideas and talents that would benefit from a connection to Silicon Valley. One of SEA’s unicorn, Grab, started out in Malaysia,” she noted.
In the end, RunCloud.io, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) based PHP cloud server control panel, emerged winner after competing alongside Dahmakan, CapFiX, FatBerry, Moneybay, VAV, Swag, PolicyStreet, Neurowave and Lunaz which is an Indonesian startup planning to break into Malaysia. The competing startups each provided digital solutions for a spectrum of areas spanning across fintech, insurtech, food delivery, blockchain technology, telecommunications, adtech and more.
The winners impressed the judges with their solution which significantly reduces the time taken for the manual process of deploying web applications on cloud hosting platforms. RunCloud.io has about 6,000 users across more than 50 countries worldwide since starting in January 2017.
According to co-founder and chief executive officer Arif Tukiman, “RunCloud.io’s modern web server panel only takes 15 minutes to convert web systems to cloud, speeding up the process by 90% and thus making it more cost-efficient overall.”
Fenox VC worked in partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Sunway iLabs, a Malaysia Digital Hub™ to host the event. MDEC Head of Digital Hubs and Industry Engagements, Rafe Aznal, said the agency was pleased to partner Fenox VC to bolster the startup ecosystem in Malaysia. “The Startup World Cup Malaysia is a catalyst to increase the number of enduring, high-growth startups that will succeed on a regional and global scale in tandem with our ambition to develop a world-class digital economy by 2020.”
As the champion, Runcloud.io gets a attend a host of workshops, a networking party, and the Grand Finale event on 11 May 2018 where startups from around the world will pitch their ideas to a panel of prominent judges for a chance to take home a trophy and win the prize of US$1 million (RM3.88 million) in funding.
The judges on the Malaysian regional panel were MDEC’s head of funding ecosystem, Balasubramaniam A, Sunway iLabs director, Matt van Leeuwen, Jirnexu founder and director, Hann Liew, Leonie Hill Capital’s Head of Investments – Technology Media and Telecom Sector, Thoo Wee Meng, Sun Sea Capital’s Venture Principal, Chua Seng Teong and Captii Ventures’ Chief Executive Officer, Ng Sai Kit.
Matt from iLabs shared that one of the key goals of Sunway iLabs is to connect Malaysian startups to the resources of Silicon Valley and other global markets as, believing it will bring substantial value to entrepreneurs. “Combining the talent pool of digital savvy students in Sunway University with startups, venture capitalists and other ecosystem players in Sunway City will also contribute to achieving our vision to become a leading innovation hub in Asean.”
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