Digital Penang’s Founders’ Grit Startup Bootcamp saw 13 shortlisted tech startups pitched on Demo Day at Setia Spice Arena in conjunction with the hottest tech festival in Penang, TechFest 2022.
The Founder’s Grit Demo Day is a culmination of the government agency’s Founders’ Grit Seed Programme’s Cohort 2 where promising tech startups laid out their innovative business tech ideas to seek potential funding from potential investors, venture capitalists as well as equity crowdfunding bodies.
The Demo Day is part of the Founders’ Grit Seed Programme, an initiative by the Penang State Government led by Digital Penang in its effort to create a Connected, Creative and Competitive digital ecosystem where technology startups, talents and companies can grow and thrive in a sustainable manner.
Launched in March 2022, the Founders’ Grit Seed Programme organised by Digital Penang ran its second cohort in July followed by a 1-month accelerator bootcamp programme in August through a partnership with Beyond4, an ecosystem accelerator to prepare the tech startups in their business journey.
The accelerator bootcamp by Beyond4 included virtual online lessons and one-to-one support from mentorship, training, financial and community access. In the 1-month bootcamp, tech startups are better equipped with skill sets and background support from to take their startup to the next level with the support from Beyond4’s pool of local and international mentors, innovation hubs, resources and market exposure; preparing them for Demo Day to seek funding opportunities from Digital Penang and the agency’s network access to investors.
Present on Demo Day were Tony Yeoh, CEO of Digital Penang, Rubaneswaran ST, CEO of Beyond4, and the Programme’s esteemed panel of judges including Ahmad Irsyad Bin Kamaruzaman, Manager of Funding Facilitation and Investor Relations of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC); Ahmad Khairi Zulkifli, Head of Unit for Digital Ventures, Cradle; Gan Teck Hooi, Independent Director of Solarvest; Jason Loh, Founder of Piece Future and Ming Xia, Head of Community & Ventures Associate of Draper Startup House.
The Demo Day aims to create a platform for the shortlisted tech startups after undergoing the accelerator bootcamp, and unveil their business ideas to potential investors whilst judges assess their startup readiness and technical skills acquired throughout the bootcamp.
Present during the Awards Ceremony for the Most Innovative and Most Promising Startup was YB Zairil Khir Johari, Penang EXCO for Infrastructure and Transport; and Vice Chairman of Digital Penang. The tech startup awarded Most Innovative was Ugek and the Most Promising Startup was AgentNow; with each tech startup also walking home with RM5,000 from the Founders’ Grit Seed Programme. YB Zairil Khir Johari in his speech also commended the startups’ grit for bringing to life their business ideas and address today’s problem statements through their digital services and software projects to build scale and create competitiveness in the digital ecosystem.
Digital Penang welcomes local tech startups to participate in its next cohort; and invite local and international investors keen to be part of its Founders’ Grit Seed Programme to reach out via email to contact@digitalpenang.my.