Final 4 winners of SuperSeed II Championship announced

KUALA LUMPUR: Gobi Partners believes the current adversity presents an opportunity for the venture capital firm to deploy funds to local entrepreneurs.

Chairman and founding partner Thomas G. Tsao said some of the best companies were being formed as pressure arising due to the challenging environment had made them more resilient and resourceful.

“They (entrepreneurs) are usually either crazy or the most committed, especially when the time is bad and they still want to be an entrepreneur. Hence, that is why we like investing in them right now,” he said after announcing the final four winners of the SuperSeed II Championship, here, yesterday.

They were Speedhome (property transactional platform), MyCashOnline (conventional digital wallet for unbanked migrant workers), Lokein (social hype community e-commerce marketplace) and StixFresh (a simple, all-natural and safe sticker coated with plant-based compounds to increase the shelf life of fruits by up to 14 days).

Thomas said Gobi, Sunway Group and Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap) were offering early-stage companies a fighting chance to win funding and navigate through these tough times.

“We were amazed by the overwhelming response, with 220 startups from various industries in 10 countries.

“The final four will get the opportunity to be a part of our portfolio under the SuperSeed Fund II that was launched last year,” he said.

Tsao said Gobi was keen to invest in startups with “resilient and resourceful” qualities in abundance amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“As a long-term investor, we believe companies that we invest in will generate a high long-term value. Historically, startups will usually give three to five times of returns (multiple),” he said.

Gobi believes the logistics and healthcare testing sector were performing better than others during the pandemic.

The company has invested about RM200 million in Malaysia since 2015.

Another RM40 million worth of funds are expected to disbursed in the next two to three years.

Sunway Group president Tan Sri Chew Chee Kin said the Covid19 pandemic had continued to disrupt economies globally and threatened the existence of many startups.

“Startups are either experiencing difficult times as they try to survive amid the pandemic, or are thriving in new, borderless online markets due to their agility and flexibility in adapting through modern digitisation,” he said.

To address the ongoing challenges, he said Sunway Group had partnered Gobi to launch the championship as it would benefit and contribute to the vibrancy and dynamism of Malaysia’s startup landscape.

He said winners of the SuperSeed II would get access to Sunway’s resources across 13 business divisions.