Startup Heroes

Homegrown startups that have brought pride and glory to the phrase ‘Made in Malaysia’.

- Peter Chu

With Malaysia Day right around the corner, we thought it would only be fitting to celebrate it by featuring a selection of Malaysian startups that have been disrupting the playing field – both locally and abroad.

From household names like Grab and Fave, to rising stars like dahmakan and Ezyhaul – we had the opportunity to speak to the founding members and key personnel of these startups to discover the inspiration behind their services and solutions, the various challenges that they had to overcome, and the ambitious plans that they have for the future.

GRAB Sean Goh, Country Head of Grab Malaysia.

If you’re looking for an inspiring startup success story, look no further than Grab. The ride-hailing service is now the most valuable startup in South East Asia with a valuation of more than US$6 billion (approx. RM25.7 billion), and is currently operating in 36 cities across seven countries in Southeast Asia. This begs the question: where does Grab go from here?

Grab has grown from being a humble homegrown startup to becoming the most valuable tech startup in Southeast Asia. What would you say are the driving forces behind its exponential growth?

Grab has up to 2.5 million rides daily, making it the region’s leading ride hailing platform and the preferred app that most drivers and passengers use in Southeast Asia. We have been able to successfully scale, because Grab has leveraged local knowledge to build several viable business models that suit each community. Southeast Asia is our home – it is where we have market leading expertise, and it is a huge market. Our recent US$2 billion (approx. RM8.59 billion) round of funding by Didi and Soft bank is further proof of Grab’s competitive differentiators – a hyper local strategy and diversified product portfolio.