Four Sarawak startups at Base Confab

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JOHOR BAHRU: Timogah, SiaSitok, ARx Media and Bego were among the four startups selected to represent Sarawak at Base Conference 2020 in Iskandar Malaysia Studios here recently.

The conference gave startups the opportunity to pitch in front of international investors, venture capitalists, various government and non-governmental organisations.

Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) opened a SMA Pavilion which hosted various startups and community builders.

Timogah, an online grocery e-commerce; SiaSitok, an augmented reality-enabled sign language teaching startup; Bego, an on-demand service provider; and ARx Media, an augmented reality startup were chosen to attend and showcase their startups at SMA Pavilion.

SMA’s partners in developing the startup ecosystem in Sarawak (iCube, TEGAS, Founders Club, and Caliphs Technology) also attended the conference to gain knowledge and form partnership with organisations from around the region.

“The current focus for Sarawak Multimedia Authority in growing the startup ecosystem is chiefly through partnerships with various technology players from around the world,” said Hazwan Razak, head of Digital Village from SMA.

Hazwan said these partnerships together with key local players like Tegas and iCube Innovation enable startups in Sarawak to rapidly scale up and penetrate the global market faster than ever before.

“Base Conference enabled us to meet and network with other ecosystem builders not just from other communities within Malaysia but also from various regions in Asean,” he said.

Base Conference 2020, a two-day technology conference aimed to illustrate the local startup ecosystem and share knowledge with startups and technology world in South East Asia.

Curated activities included Corporate Innovation, Venture Investment, Startups War Stories, Digital Transformation, Future Technology, and E-Commerce with keynote and panel discussions, tech exhibitions, workshops & master classes, a pitching competition, business and investor matching as well as a networking session and an after party.

Through Sarawak Digital Economy strategy 2018–2022, SMA is given the mandate to develop the startup ecosystem in Sarawak to create high value companies involved in creation of high skills jobs, foreign direct investment and development of local talent and capabilities in cutting-edge technology.