The Founding of MaGIC
Day 1
Apr 15
Birth of MaGIC
Employee #1,
CEO Cheryl Yeoh,
reports for duty.
Day 2
Apr 16
First BOD Meeting
The interim organizational chart is approved, and operational matters worked out.
Day 12
Apr 27
Official Launch
MaGIC is officially launched by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.
Our Mandate
Our Vision
To make Malaysia the Startup Capital of Asia
Our Mission
To catalyze the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Malaysia, and increase the number of enduring, high-growth startups that will succeed on a regional and global scale
Our Core Activities
1Connecting
Connecting
the dots
- Providing resources via MaGIC Central
- Nurturing community around a coworking space
- Encouraging social entrepreneurship via relevant initiatives
2
Enhancing the startup ecosystem
- Educating with MaGIC Academy
- Exposing founders regionally and globally
- Accelerating promising startups to take on ASEAN
3
Exposing success stories and inspiring the rakyat
- Profiling local heroes on WeAreMY.com
- Sharing success stories of local startups
- Partnering with media to educate the public
Building an ecosystem isn't easy.
How did we decide what to work on first?
Community Outreach
What We Did in Year One
Jun
Entrepreneurs Dialogue
Malaysian entrepreneurs face a variety of challenges unique to their ecosystem and stage of the startup lifecycle. We facilitated a series of dialogues with local founders to make sure we’re working to solve the issues they’re facing.
70%
issues raisedcurrently being tackled by MaGIC
Jul
Community &
Coworking Space
Malaysian startups sometimes toil for months in solitude, unaware of others in the ecosystem around them. We built a space where early stage startups can call home, and the entire community can gather around to connect and collaborate.
92
startup foundersin our co-working space
Aug
Coding Bootcamps
Great tech companies are fueled by great developers. We ran a number of intensive, accelerated courses to teach Malaysians to code and create a pool of developers that could build the next JobStreet or MyTeksi.
90
developers producedto fill talent shortages in Malaysia
Sep
MaGIC Central
If you’re an entrepreneur trying to get started in Malaysia, where do you go? MaGIC Central aims to provide a rich database of resources for startups at any stage, as well as facilitate virtual and physical interaction between entrepreneurs and agencies.
753
resources documented and archivedfor entrepreneurs
Oct
MSA Launch &
MaGIC Academy
Knowledge is the foundation of success. Following the General Assembly model, we’re building an international, scalable, and diverse education platform to give Malaysians the skills needed to build successful, world-class startups.
13,811
entrepreneurs trainedacross all programs
Oct
Project Cerebro
It’s critical that tech startups that have raised funding be put on the right path to grow aggressively enough, given the high cost of user acquisition and marketing expenses. We partnered with the global seed fund and accelerator 500 Startups to bring local founders together with the world’s foremost experts in web and mobile marketing to focus intensively on growth for two months as a pilot project. Project Cerebro will be fully live in October 2015.
400
hours of intensive trainingfocused on digital marketing and growth
Nov
e@Stanford
Malaysian startups have limited global exposure, especially to Silicon Valley, the world’s leading innovation hub. The e@Stanford program immersed local founders in the Silicon Valley for two weeks to meet with prominent entrepreneurs and the world-renowned Stanford faculty.
218
connections madewith mentors, investors and experts
Nov
Startup Asia Jakarta
To achieve scale on a regional level, Malaysian startups need access to neighboring ecosystems. We partnered with the hosts of Startup Asia Jakarta to bring Malaysian startups in for an opportunity to showcase their companies, talk to investors and the media, and learn what it takes to expand to Indonesia.
6 + 45
startupsready to expand to Indonesia
Dec
Social Entrepreneurship
Amplify Awards
Social entrepreneurs can face a lot of difficulty raising financial capital. The Amplify Awards are a platform to highlight and support high growth potential social enterprises and help them pilot or scale their ideas.
RM 500k
total awardedto 5 social enterprises
Dec
MaGIC Bumipreneur
Past initiatives to grow the startup ecosystem focused largely on urban centers, overlooking a large pool of potential entrepreneurial talent in suburban and rural areas. MaGIC Bumipreneur is one of many initiatives to increase bumiputera participation by encouraging the growth of more role models, outreach programs and capacity building.
2 MoUs
signed with Teraju and INSKENto increase outreach to Bumiputera Entrepreneurs
Jan
Outreach Beyond
the Klang Valley
The skills taught at MaGIC Academy are invaluable to entrepreneurs everywhere, but not all founders can make it to our classes. To help with this, we’ve shared over 120 hours of high quality YouTube content with the public that’s been viewed over 15,000 times. In the first 5 months of 2015, we brought MaGIC Academy workshops to Malaysian entrepreneurs in 6 different states.
2,833
participants reachedin sessions beyond the Klang Valley
Feb
STVP Faculty-Train-Faculty
Many countries lack the experience and expertise necessary to construct an effective student entrepreneurship program nationwide. We sent faculty members from local universities to Stanford, the world’s most successful entrepreneurial school, to exchange notes and ideas on teaching entrepreneurship.
10
local faculty memberscollaborating with Stanford faculty
Feb
Social Entrepreneurship
Roundtables & Blueprint
Social entrepreneurship is gaining popularity fast, but still remains unfamiliar ground to many. MaGIC’s Social Entrepreneurship team embarked on a nationwide tour to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by local social entrepreneurs.
229
thought leadersdiscussed the future of social entrepreneurship
Mar
Stanford Go2Market
Ever had a business idea you wanted to bring to market but didn’t know how? We invited 5 faculty members from the Stanford Graduate School of Business to Cyberjaya to help local entrepreneurs commercialize their business ideas over one week of intensive workshops.
50
aspiring foundersvalidated their business models
Jun
Startup Database
A thriving startup ecosystem deserves to be properly catalogued - for investors and the public to track the number of high growth startups in a country, records of funding raised, exit history, and their progress along their journey. This makes it easier for MaGIC and other agencies to assist startups and funnel parties to the right resources. We’ve also gathered over 350 investors in a distribution list, over 60% of which is foreign-based. We built the definitive database of the Malaysian startup ecosystem, allowing anyone to get information about the companies, people, products, news & events that matter.
550
startups to be uploadedto the database
May
Tech in Asia
Singapore Conference
When ASEAN startups want to raise venture capital, they head to Singapore (though we at MaGIC are hoping to change that). We united Malaysian startups under the Malaysian pavilion to increase visibility for the gain ASEAN-level exposure to venture capitalists, press, and international speakers at the region’s largest tech gathering.
100
Malaysian startupsin a delegation to the Lion City
Jun
MaGIC Accelerator Program
Accelerators give companies access to expert advice, vital connections, and a community that knows what it’s like to build something from nothing. We’re launching the largest accelerator in South East Asia to make companies investment-ready in 4 months, and the first of its kind to have a separate track for startups and social enterprises.
1047
applicationsfrom 28 countries to date
MaGIC’s Game Plan
- Education
- Acceleration
- Connection
- Exposure
- Aug 14’
- Sep 14’
- Oct 14’
- Nov 14’
- Dec 14’
- Jan 15’
- Feb 15’
- Mar 15’
- Apr 15’
- May 15’
- Jun 15’
- Jul 15’
- Aug 15’
-
MaGIC Academy Workshops
-
Coding Bootcamps
-
MaGIC Startup Academy LaunchStanford Technology Venture ProgramStanford Faculty Training
-
500 Startups: Cerebro
-
MaGIC Accelerator Program (MAP)Stanford Go2Market
-
MaGIC Co-Working Space
-
MaGIC Central & Resource Tool
-
UP Global:
Startup WeekendsStartup DB -
WeareMY.com
-
Bumipreneur
-
e@Stanford
-
Regional Program: Startup Asia JakartaSocial Entrepreneurship Initiatives
New Partners to the Ecosystem
We inked notable partnerships to put Malaysia on the world technology map. Here are a few:
We partnered with...
Stanford alumni have produced the greatest technology companies of the modern day. We signed a three-year partnership with the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Graduate School of Business, and Center for Professional Development to expose Malaysian entrepreneurs and Faculty to the same education environment that birthed some of the world’s most successful companies.
UP Global aims to expose people from all walks of life to the transformative power of entrepreneurship, and has a global presence in 500 cities running Startup Weekends all over the world. Their Asia HQ will be based at MaGIC, where we will be working together to create a perfect staging ground for local entrepreneurs to validate and test their ideas.
500 Startups is one of the world’s best known seed funds and accelerators. MaGIC is collaborating with 500 Startups to launch Cerebro, a growth-stage accelerator program for post-Series A startups in Southeast Asia. In a nutshell, this means giving Southeast Asian startups the chance to spend weeks working with some of the most brilliant and experienced entrepreneurial minds on the planet.
Startup Chile is a four-year old program that brought the best and brightest entrepreneurs from around the world to Chile, resulting in a radical transformation of the startup ecosystem. We’re working closely with Startup Chile to model our upcoming MaGIC Accelerator Program after their own world-renown accelerator.
CrunchBase is the definitive database of the world’s startup ecosystem. MaGIC and CrunchBase have a partnership to share startup data between CrunchBase and our own MaGIC Startup Database. This will also gain local startups a platform for international exposure via TechCrunch, CrunchBase’s sister company and the world’s leading technology news outlet.
MaGIC Functions as a Catalyst
MaGIC connects the communities, universities, government agencies, ministries, and private sector to build a tech startup ecosystem that is truly supported by every advantage the nation has to offer.
