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many different countries.
“The quality, charisma and passion of
the founders were so inspiring,” shared
Lim.
It was a great exchange of ideas and
information about diverse startup ecosys-
tem and challenges in each participating
country. Limwas happy to share that they
learnt fromother startup founders onwhat
it takes to be successful.
“Grit, wit, passion, focus, charisma,
etc … are all qualities observed in SSW
participants.”
Aspiring Malaysian startups, Lim has
these snippets to share:
“Think global, and be ambitious about
how to grow your business outside of
your home country. Have both feet on the
ground and be pragmatic about executing
your vision.”
The SeedstarsWorld Competition aims
to bridge developed and emergingmarkets
into one global centre of innovation,
participation, and collaboration. This year,
they will be visiting 50 cities around the
world to continue on their great mission
of bringing together the greatest minds
and leaders to help change the world for
the better.
In 2014, Tapway won ‘Best Malaysian Startup’ and was one of the chosen few to
competeagainstotherglobal startupstopitchfor themainprizeatSwitzerlandfor the
prestigious Seedstars World Competition.
FireFlyz
gets the exclusive interviewwith
TapwayCEO
LimCheeHow
and SeedstarsWorld’s
JulienBerthomier
.
STARTUP
The ‘Northern Star’ of Malaysia
O
riginating
f rom
Switzerland, Seedstars
World is an exclusive
startup competition
for emerging markets,
with a vision to reduce
unemployment in
said markets through promotion and
investment in entrepreneurship. Only
high-quality startups receive invitations
and are chosen through a rigorous process
every year.
Startups around the world compete re-
gionally first, and the regional winners will
then be invited to Geneva, Switzerland,
to pitch for an equity investment of up to
US$500,000. Startups participating in the
regionals have to prove themselves worthy
with a six-minute pitch and answer the
questions fielded by a panel of local experts
and a Seedstars World representative.
Tapway
Founded by two ambitious technologists
from the aerospace industry, Lim Chee
How and Loh Shye Kang, Tapway aims to
help brick-and-mortar businesses battle
the threat of e-Commerce by significantly
improving customer experience through
deep shopper profiling, behaviour analysis
and highly personalised engagement
solutions.
About a year ago, MAD Incubator rec-
ommended that Tapway try for Seedstars
World (SSW). Tapway agreed, seeing that
it could be a great platform to validate their
business as well as to get international
exposure. Eventually, they proved their
mettle and beat about 20 other startups to
emerge victorious – and one step closer to
an equity investment.
The Malaysian-European Link
Malaysia is quickly making headway in
the startup scene. Inmid-2014, Malaysia’s
ICT custodian, Multimedia Development
Corporation (MDeC), got connected to the
SSW team, and since it presented a good
opportunity to link Malaysian startups to
the European startup ecosystem, MDeC
worked theirmagic to get SSWto host their
inaugural regional event – in Malaysia!
“Malaysia has the potential to build
successful startups at a global level. The
country has adopted digital technology
very fast and it now ranks among themost
mature digital markets in SE Asia.
“The technologymarket is growing very
fast thanks to strong government support
and the rise of many tech entrepreneurs.
This year at SeedstarsWorld, wewill travel
to 16 Asian countries. Malaysia is on the
map and we have high expectations!”
shares Julien Berthomier, Asian Regional
Manager for Seedstars World.
The SSW Experience
Tapway shares that the experience has
helped themto think further by asking the
right questions, establish a strong network
with the winners and sharpened and
perfected their pitch to impress
global investors.
“It was an unforgettable
experience being in the same
room with the greatest
minds and leaders from so
Limmaking his
pitch at Seedstars
World 2014
LimChee How (L)
and Loh Shye Kang
(R) are happy
finalists at
the SSW
Competition
2014