10 things you can expect from being involved in a Malaysian startup as an investor, founder, or employee. 10 signals of what's to come... compiled from various sources by Khailee Ng, co-founder of SAYS.com (merged with Catcha), Groupsmore (acquired by Groupon) and Venture Partner at 500 Startups, covering Southeast Asia. Presented at http://awsxgoap.eventbrite.com as part of Geeks on a Plane, Southeast Asia.

1. MALAYSIAN STARTUP LIFE
IN 10 SLIDES
By Khailee Ng

2. HI. I’M KHAILEE.
SAYS.com (Merged: Catcha Media)
GroupsMore (Acquired: Groupon)
Angel Investor US (4) MY (3)
Venture Partner, 500 Startups
TIME TO GROWTH-HACK THE
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM!

3. GLOBAL SEED FUND
Invested in 475 companies
1/3 of them outside of the US
CollecOvely raised over $1B
Fund I, 21 exits, to Google, LinkedIn, TwiXer etc

4. ACCELERATOR IN SILICON VALLEY

5. GLOBAL NETWORK OF 800
FOUNDERS + 300 MENTORS

6. "Malaysians
Spend the Most Time,
Have the Most
Friends on Social
Networks”
SOURCE:
h*p://readwrite.com/
2010/10/11/
study_of_global_online_behavior_fin
ds_emerging_mar
17.5M Internet Users
14M on Facebook
MY HAS THE WORLD’S MOST
SOCIAL CONSUMERS

7. 65% INTERNET PENETRATION
124% MOBILE PENETRATION
27% ON SMARTPHONES

8. LOW ONLINE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION
COSTS (ALMOST 1/10 VS USA)
AS LOW AS $0.02
FOR A TRUE VIEW
AS LOW AS
$0.07
FOR A MOBILE CPI

9. In 2013 alone…
• 1337
Accelerator
$10M
(Angel,
Seed)
• Catcha
Group
$50M
+
$100M
(A,B,C,D)
• TheStar
launches
accelerator
+
$6.5M
Fund
(Angel,
Seed)
• SEA
Eagle
(MY
based)
$10M
(Angel,
Seed)
• Asia
Venture
Group
$5M
(Angel,
Seed)
• 500
Durians
$10M
(Angel,
Seed)
INFLUX OF INVESTMENT IN
ANGEL, SEED, SERIES ABCD

10. GLOBAL + LOCAL
TALENT HUB
• WORK PERMIT FOR
FOREIGNERS IN TECH
(UNLIMITED) IN 2
WEEKS
• COSTS 3X CHEAPER
THAN SINGAPORE
• TAP INTO INDONESIAN,
VIETNAMESE,
PHILIPPINO, INDIAN
TALENT
• LOCAL TALENT SPEAKS
ENGLISH

11. GLOBAL TECH GIANTS
GROWING DIRECT ACTIVITY
IN MALAYSIA
PARTNERSHIPS WITH
LOCAL TELCO TO GIVE FREE
WIRELESS INTERNET TO
SCHOOLS
DIRECT LOCAL
STARTUP SUPPORT
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
IN MALAYSIA,
LOCAL ACQUISITIONS

12. LIFESTYLE KINDA ROCKS
WORK-­‐LIFE
AWESOMENESS
• EVERY WEEKEND IS A
VACATION : AIRASIA
YOURSELF TO WORLD’S TOP
VACATION DESTINATIONS IN
3 HOURS
• AFFORDABLE COSTS OF
LIVING (LONGER RUNWAY)
GOOD BALANCE
OF ASIA
• NOT AS ‘CHAOTIC’ AS
MANILA OR JAKARTA
• NOT AS ‘STERILE’ VS
SINGAPORE
• LOCALS SPEAK ENGLISH

13. 10 YEARS NO TAX
FOR TECH STARTUPS
+ (ANGEL INVESTING TAX EXEMPT)

14. M&A ACTIVITY PICKING UP
• Ocision
(The
Star,
2013)
• SAYS
(Catcha,
2013)
• Slashes
&
Dots
(iJoomla,
2013)
• Catcha
Digital
Asia
(OPT,
2013)
• LivingSocial
(Everyday,
2012)
• Groupon
(GroupsMore,
2011)
• Facebook
(Octazen,
2010)

15. 4/5 LARGEST SOUTHEASTASIAN
TECH IPO COMPANIES ARE
FOUNDED + HQ IN MALAYSIA
Table
1:
Top
5
publicly
listed
ASEAN
companies
(online
sector)
by
market
capitaliza_on
at
18
March
2013.
Source:
Catcha
Group

16. 1. Uber
Social
Consumers
2. High
Internet
&
Mobile
Penetra_on
3. Low
Adver_sing
Costs
4. Influx
of
investment
5. Global
+
Local
Talent
Hub
6. Global
Tech
Giants
Growing
Ac_vity
7. Lifestyle
Rocks
8. 10
Years
No
Tax
9. M&A
Increasing
10. Proven
Regional
IPO
hub
MALAYSIAN STARTUP LIFE
FAST START
SUSTAINABLE
GROWTH
PROVEN EXIT
POTENTIAL

17. HERE TO GROW THE NEXT GENERATION
OF SUCCESSFUL SEA STARTUPS
khailee@500.co