[This is a sponsored article written in collaboration with Cradle Fund.]
Did you hear? Kuala Lumpur is now within the Prime 20 Rising Startup Ecosystems, rating 18th within the World Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2025 by Startup Genome.
This can be a notable milestone and a testomony of Malaysia’s coordinated nationwide innovation agenda displaying measurable impression as between 2022 to 2024, Malaysia was within the Prime 30 Rising Ecosystems class.
For context, Startup Genome is taken into account the world’s most complete evaluation of startup ecosystems, and the GSER evaluates over 300 cities throughout greater than 100 nations.
With this new rating, it reveals a step up within the nation’s progress throughout efficiency, funding, expertise improvement, and market attain. The latter is famous as a key contributor to the rise in rank, leaping from two to 10, reflecting on the rising means of native startups to penetrate worldwide markets.
Cradle Fund, the important thing driver of Malaysia’s startup ecosystem, highlighted quite a few startups to Startup Genome. Among the many notable ones are Eatcosys, Compasia, Well being Metrics, Lapasar and Bateriku.com.
Cradle defined that CompAsia, Well being Metrics, Lapasar, and Bateriku.com had been highlighted as they had been among the many top-performing fundraising startups in 2024, having efficiently accomplished a high-valuation funding spherical. However, Eatcosys was named as a result of it exited.
5 Malaysian startups price highlighting
1. Eatcosys Sdn Bhd (now beneath Incite Improvements)
A homegrown retail-tech startup, Eatcosys is a one-stop retail expertise options supplier with a collection of companies. Its options embody a cloud-based POS system, CRM software program, loyalty administration, a transit promoting platform, e-commerce platforms, information insights, and monetary companies.
In 2023, Eatcosys was acquired by one other agency referred to as Incite Foodtech, an organization that supercharges QSBF (quick-serving-beverage-and-food) manufacturers’ development with its “plug-in & scale” enterprise mannequin.
The 2 corporations are actually recognized collectively as Incite Improvements and serve 16 industries throughout 4 nations. Some purchasers you might be conversant in embody native manufacturers like Perodua, Big, and Pensonic, in addition to worldwide names akin to Japan’s AEON and South Korea’s Lotte.
Final yr, Incite Improvements’ CEO informed The Solar that the group is contemplating IPO itemizing in a pair years, aiming to capitalise on its fast development pushed by fundraising efforts and investor help.
2. CompAsia
Based by Julius Lim, CompAsia was initially constructed with the purpose of lowering e-waste and giving secondhand gadgets a brand new life.
Initially, he noticed that many individuals had issues disposing of their computer systems, however quickly realised that smartphones had been modified extra regularly. Therefore, the group determined to pivot and give attention to the smartphone market.
CompAsia has since established itself as a one-stop platform to commerce in and resell digital gadgets with an emphasis on affordability.
Between 2019 to 2022, the corporate reportedly prolonged the lives of shut to three million gadgets second-hand cell phones. This has resulted in lowering 420 tonnes of e-waste, thereby conserving 46 billion gallons of water and stopping the manufacturing of 181,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
3. HealthMetrics
A 3rd-party administrator software program firm, HealthMetrics simplifies and automates the administration of healthcare companies.
The platform incorporates superior options akin to AI-driven declare administration, fraud detection, value containment instruments, and real-time analytics. Collectively, these assist to make sure transparency, velocity, and value effectivity for insurers, corporates, and healthcare suppliers.
Launched in 2015, the corporate works with over 15,000 healthcare suppliers throughout Southeast, with 7,000 of that community in Malaysia alone.
Its newest growth is Indonesia in April this yr, strengthening Malaysia’s place as a regional hub for cross-border digital healthcare administration. In accordance with The Change Asia, HealthMetrics is on monitor to surpassing US$1 billion in cumulative medical therapies by the top of 2025.
4. Lapasar
A wholesale business-to-business (B2B) platform primarily based in Shah Alam, Lapasar digitises and simplifies procurement within the company and mom-and-pop house.
The way it works is outlets would order provides akin to your each day pack of Milo or Nescafe from Lapasar. Previous to that, it was specializing in shopping for gadgets for each day operational wants, like laptops, projectors, and workplace furnishings.
At this time, Lapasar’s FMCG wholesale phase is the important thing pillar of its enterprise, supplying stock to over 6,000 shops and eating places in Malaysia.
A part of this development could possibly be attributed to the model securing RM31 million in investments final yr from a roster of traders, together with pension fund KWAP and Gobi Dana Impak Ventures.
5. Bateriku.com
Considered one of Malaysia’s main linked roadside help suppliers, Bateriku.com started as a conventional battery retailer. This contains on-demand, on-site automobile battery replacements, jumpstarts, towing, and different help companies akin to tyre punctures.
“However our imaginative and prescient was all the time to construct an built-in ecosystem catering to each automobile proprietor’s wants,” the founder Azarol Faizi beforehand shared to TechNode World.
Realising that dream, the corporate now additionally operates as an ecosystem connecting automobile homeowners to workshops and auto components suppliers. A pair years in the past, it additionally launched Akademi Bateriku to supply reskilling and upskilling programmes for automotive professionals.
The model now has over 1,000 educated gig technicians, over 70 entrepreneurs, and greater than 3,000 workshops and auto half companions. These numbers are anticipated to develop following its current Sequence B funding spherical in September 2024 that raised US$7.4 million.
Subsequent cease: World’s Prime 20 Startup Ecosystems
Startup Genome additionally reported that early-stage funding in Kuala Lumpur reached US$368 million (RM1.5 billion) over the previous 2.5 years, which is a 44% enhance from the earlier cycle.
On the coronary heart of this progress lies two core nationwide methods—the Malaysia Startup Ecosystem Roadmap (SUPER) 2021-2030, KL20 Motion Plan, and Malaysia Enterprise Capital Roadmap (MVCR) 2024-2030 that was launched final yr.
“Our progress displays years of deliberate coverage design and institution-building beneath SUPER, which laid the foundational infrastructure for development throughout capital formation, expertise improvement, and regulatory frameworks,” mentioned Chang Lih Kang, the Minister of Science, Expertise and Innovation (MOSTI).
“KL20 has since accelerated these efforts by deepening entry to funding, attracting world expertise, and additional bolstering investor confidence. Collectively, these initiatives align with our nationwide imaginative and prescient to place Malaysia among the many world’s high 20 startup ecosystems by 2030.”
- Study extra about Cradle Fund right here.
- Learn different articles we’ve written about Cradle Fund right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Cradle Fund / Dadan Fitrayana through Pexels
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