Accelerating innovation for economic recovery with MaGIC’s Global Accelerator Programme; now accepting applications

The Global Accelerator Programme (GAP) is a three-month-long virtual programme running out of the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) in Cyberjaya. It aims to build a strong ASEAN startup community by cultivating ASEAN relationships. MaGIC equips local and global start-ups with the necessary skills, tools, and network, as the gateway to a larger ASEAN market for opportunities. GAP will provide the selected startups with a head start to break into the Southeast Asian market, a region that is often touted as the world’s next consumer powerhouse.

During the programme, MaGIC will be equipping participants with benefits from various programme benefit partners; industry-specific training, an opportunity to learn from world-class technical and business mentors; a stronger route-to-market focus with extensive corporate support, and partnerships in place with private sector champions as well as access to pre-recorded curriculum content 24/7 throughout the programme and access to potential funding opportunity via GAP Partner Programme.


GAP is Malaysia’s leading mid-to-late stage startup growth programme that is tailored for both local and international startups with an ambition to expand in the ASEAN market. It will be MaGIC’s second virtual accelerator programme which allows us to reach out to more founders and deliver broader resources to their companies from both local and international industries. MaGIC will be able to bring benefit to the participants to tap into opportunities beyond its borders as part of accelerating the start-ups’ growth journey.


GAP Syllabus
The curriculum will be live, but the participants can still access the content after the live sessions. This content will be available 24/7. With a dedicated mentorship platform and exclusive access to MaGIC’s alumni network and community, GAP offers greater value creation for startups and the opportunity to build a strong network with corporates and investors. 


The syllabus is set to include relationship-building meetings with Entrepreneurs in Residence and Mentors. This new and improved acceleration journey was crafted based on feedback from alumni and subject matter experts from the previous cohort.


The three-month journey will kick off with the first curriculum pillar of “Investment Readiness”, where startups will focus on financial literacy and investment analysis. Followed by the second pillar of “Technology Readiness”, which focuses on how to identify each technological element and how startups can implement it into their startups and further enhance their products. The curriculum ends with the “Entrepreneurship” pillar, which will equip the startups with fundamental business knowledge when they present their startups and themselves as founders. 


After three months of being equipped with the knowledge, networking, and mentoring, the startup founders will be transformed into leaders who can accelerate innovation for economic recovery. The startups will be ready to pitch to regional investors on Demo Day in the first week of September 2021 to mark the conclusion of their three-month journey with GAP. Their pitch will be live-streamed across all social media platforms with various stakeholders, investors and partners as in-stream delegates.


New interventions are going to be introduced for the Virtual GAP Cohort 05, such as the National Technology Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) initiative. Having successfully funnelled startups from NTIS to Virtual GAP in the previous cohort, there is a forecast that high performing startups from GAP will have the potential to be funnelled to NTIS. Another intervention for Virtual GAP Cohort 05 is the opportunity to be funnelled to Global Market-Fit Programme (GMP), for local startups who wish to expand to beyond Asia and MyStartup Hub Programme (MSH), for startups from all over the world who wish to establish a business hub in Malaysia, post programme.

Virtual GAP Cohort 05 2021
MaGIC’s award-winning GAP is one of the largest and most stringent accelerator programmes in Southeast Asia with an average acceptance rate for the last 4 cohorts of 4.2 percent. The GAP curriculum has been extensively revised to virtually cater to the startups who wish to accelerate innovation for economic recovery.


The programme has been maintained and expanded not only to focus on building internal business resilience, but also to focus on helping participants build a network within the venture capital space and better position themselves to secure seed funding or other forms of investor commitments.


This year’s curriculum emphasises coaching and mentoring while focusing on a more holistic approach, which includes technological interventions, sustainability and adaptability. Assessing the impact caused by the pandemic, Virtual GAP Cohort 05’s content has been refined to address the potential future challenges and risks, at the same time, leveraging existing and opportunistic trends.


Looking beyond the direct benefits startups take from the programme in the form of upskilling their teams, mentorship, and access to route-to-market partners, GAP also helps rising startups, or those looking to take their venture to the next level. It will assist them to connect with global startups, share learnings, different viewpoints, and explore expansion opportunities in Southeast Asia. 


Startups that are accepted into these programmes are selected based on their readiness for mid-late stage regional deal flows and their potential to expand into ASEAN markets. 


Startups Criteria

1. Expansion - Looking to expand in the ASEAN region


2. Registered - Incorporated as Sdn. Bhd. / Ptd Ltd. & in operation for more than 1 year


3. Scalability - Highly scalable with a strong business model


4. Committed - A team of two to three members must be fully committed during the programme


5. Traction - Launched a product with good traction


As of 3 September 2020, MaGIC has impacted nearly 116,982 entrepreneurs through more than 1,227 entrepreneurship development programmes and events. Over a total of 147 startups graduated from GAP spanning 4 years with total revenue generated at RM310 million and total investments raised at RM116 million.

GAP Demo Day
GAP Demo Day marks the conclusion of a rigorous three-month programme, equipping startups with the necessary skills, knowledge and network to scale successfully in ASEAN. The startups will present their stronger and smarter business ideas to a room full of investors, partners and mentors. 

GAP Investment Partner Programme
This programme will have exclusive insights to the startups for potential investment throughout GAP and post-GAP period. Besides potential funding, this initiative will also offer opportunities to GAP participants to leverage on Partner’s network for market access.

GAP Graduates
The startups’ success rate is measured by tracking their increase in revenue obtained or funding raised during the program. Post programme, their progress is monitored for 24 months.

Here are a few of the graduates who have gone on to raise funding as well as listing their company:

1. BoomGrow is a tech farming company on a mission to transform farming by producing 100% clean & nutritious goodness through controlled environment farming. 


2. StringSoul is a fun and interactive one-stop platform for live 1-1 online music classes with professional teachers that is designed to make quality, convenient, and affordable music learning accessible to students of all ages.

3. Memori is a one-stop online legacy-planning platform that allows users to write will, secure digital assets, manage insurance policies, end-of-life planning and leave last messages for the user’s loved ones.


4. DeafTawk is a one-stop solution for deaf users to communicate effectively. The DeafTawk app sparks an opportunity to bridge the communication gap between the deaf community and the rest of society.


5. Runcloud is a company with a services that focuses on enabling beginners and experts to be comfortable with using cloud and making cloud management to be user-friendly for everyone.


6. Serv is a one-stop app for a driver and helps them to get what their vehicle needs.

7. CloudBreakr is an AI powered influencer marketing software. Covering 7+ Asia regions that help brands analyze and engage with influencers that optimize their marketing performance.

8. JomParking is an app that eases the user’s parking payment in Malaysia. It is a simple, secure and quick way to pay for parking.

9. Poladrone is an all-in-one drone solutions provider for enterprises looking to modernise and streamline their operations workflow. Together with a mission to help companies overcome difficult tasks through innovative and cost-efficient drone technology strategies.

10. Food Market Hub is a simple procurement and inventory system for F&B businesses, a simple tool and a system to help track on their food cost by using AI forecast analyzing weather forecast, past data, and calendar with holiday key impact points.

11. Tresgo is a company that makes the shopping experience and process for E-commerce to be easier by offering store, pack and deliver services.

12. PichaEats offers the services in identifying families who can cook, train them to become professional chefs, design menu and packaging, run branding and marketing, and arrange logistics to deliver food cooked by the chefs to clients.

13. GA Alliance is a platform that blends technology and professionals to grow their business.

14. Ejen2u is a system that helps business owners strive to enrich the lives of both product owners and agents, which are classified in the Informal Economy in an affordable and sustainable way.

15. RecyGlo is a service that provides environmentally friendly recycling solutions to Myanmar, and Malaysia. Aiming to keep the world environmentally clean.

This content is provided by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre.

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