Open For Business

Today on the show, we speak with a founder that has been trying to guide and support mothers and parents since 2013 through her parenting platform - Nuren Group, which includes websites such as Motherhood.com.my, Mamahood.com.sg, and Wedding.com.my, among others under its umbrella.10 years in, Nuren has over 5 million users, 15 million monthly views on average, and launched their Parenting SuperApp by Motherhood earlier this year. All this has helped them generate RM 50 million revenue in the last 3 years, with RM15 million generated last year and expectations of hitting RM 20 million this year. Looking ahead, they are looking at going public on the Nasdaq in 2 years.Today you will learn the story behind Nuren Group’s birth and 10 year journey, the rationale and business value of building a superapp, and what’s next for this company with Nuren Group’s Co-Founder and CEO Petrina Goh and Creative Director Maton Shukor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia is not just joining the global drone racing scene—it's taking it vertical. YY Choy and Johnson Yap are at the forefront of this innovative twist, hosting Asia's inaugural vertical drone race. This next-gen sport offers racers an unmatched immersive experience, blurring the lines between virtual simulators and real-world racing. Beyond the tech and adrenaline, both emphasise its inclusivity, breaking age and gender norms. Despite initial challenges like high setup costs and limited awareness, they see a promising future, especially with potential governmental support integrating drone tech into STEM and TVET programs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nebula is a cloud gaming platform founded locally in Malaysia and they’re like Netflix for gaming. With Nebula, gamers can start playing all the latest games from their smartphone, tablet and old laptops. All they need is good internet. This means gamers no longer need to buy a console or a gaming computer and in fact, they don't even need to buy the games. We speak to Daryl Wong, Founder of Nebula to learn more about what they do, and what makes them unique within this industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LightBlue Consulting is a UN-awarded organisation specialised in food waste prevention in over 20 countries. With key partnerships across hotels, restaurants, and international organisations, they bring sustainability and business excellence together. Their FIT Food Waste Monitoring Tech provides data-driven solutions to commercial kitchens, generating tailored weekly reports in nine languages to reduce food waste and associated costs. Founder Benjamin Lephilibert has trained over 2000 culinary professionals and is a frequent international speaker on food waste prevention. Benjamin was in KL recently to speak at Kita Conversations by Kita Food Festival. Kita Conversations is an on-going dialogue on all thing’s food related with the goal to build an open platform for people working in the food and beverage industry, plus anybody interested in where food comes from, to discuss the future of food.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

HUBBO POS is pivoting to aid local eateries in implementing data-informed digital processes and expanding sales avenues, leveraging Grab's robust regional frameworks beyond just managing food orders and transactions. Serving as a comprehensive POS system, HUBBO POS employs cloud tech to effortlessly coordinate diverse restaurant order channels—dine-in, online, takeaway, and drive-thru—under one platform. This same platform also offers Grab merchants access to advanced features such as sales monitoring, stock summaries, and table coordination. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday, India-based fintech unicorn Razorpay deepened its presence in the Malaysian market by becoming the first new member of PayNet since 2019, through its Malaysian-based unit Curlec by Razorpay, which it acquired back in early 2022.This Paynet membership now allows Curlec to adopt the DuitNow product suite, allowing their customers to make and receive real-time payments from bank accounts and e-wallets. This marks Curlec's continued evolution from recurring payments provider to full stack payment gateway.Backed by Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, Singapore’s GIC, Y Combinator, and other notable investors, Razorpay was valued at around $7.5 billion in its last funding round in December 2021 where it raised $375 Million in their Series-F round. To date, the company has raised a total of $741.5 million and has acquired 8 companies as part of its growth strategy.To explore Razorpay’s origins, plans ahead, plans for Southeast Asia, and IPO timeline, we speak with Rahul Kothari, Chief Business Officer of RazorpaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

YouApp, developed by entrepreneur Douglas Gan, is a straightforward solution for anyone seeking out unique local experiences. Targeting the untapped Malaysian market, this platform offers a curated selection of activities, aiming to connect residents and tourists with intriguing opportunities typically overlooked in everyday life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In August, Involve Asia was named alongside 5 other Malaysian tech companies like drone-player Aerodyne, B2B wholesale platform Lapasar, and insurtech firm PolicyStreet, as Forbes Asia 100 to Watch.Founded in 2014, the platform helps brands form marketing partnerships with global content creators, developers, and affiliates, which has become big business with more companies looking to performance-based marketing to optimise their marketing budgets. Since inception, over $2.6 billion in sales have been generated on their platform (in term of Gross Merchandise Value), with current annual sales generated coming in at $1 billion. Some of their partners and advertisers include Lazada, Grab, Marriott, and Nike, among others.This year, Involve raised over $10 million dollars in a round led by Bintang Capital Partners and follow-on investment from returning investors like 500 Global. On this episode of Open For Business, you will hear from President and Co-founder René Menezes on how they plan to optimise that funding to grow, the initial problem they were trying to solve back in 2014 and how that has evolved over the last 9 years, and about their IPO plans.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Malaysia's gig economy growing to an estimated 30% of the workforce, various job platforms have emerged to meet the demand. Singapore-based FastCo is one such platform. After launching FastGig in 2022 and securing $7.5 million in Series A funding, the company aims to expand in Malaysia and beyond.Today you will learn about the story behind their management-led-buy-out in 2021, the rationale for entering the flexi-work platform business, and how they’ve deployed their Series A $7.5 million as they look to grow in Malaysia and the region, with Julian Tan, the CEO and Founder of FastCo.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insurtech platform Ouch! started as a distribution platform for insurance products such as medical, motor, home, travel, and life, but has now moved away from that, atleast for now.Supported by their fully-subscribed six-figure pre-Series A round and previous RM1.5 million seed round in 2021, Ouch launched its first in-house product - a digital takaful product called Pusara Pro, marking its entry into the takaful market as the first digital takaful operator in Bank Negara Malaysia’s Regulatory Sandbox.On this episode of Open for Business, you will hear about what inspired this venture, how they’re going to compete with the sizable incumbents in the insurance space, and why they’ve decided to make their own in-house insurance products with CEO Shazy Noorazman.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.