Alpha Startups pre-accelerator Top 10 startups revealed

1337 Ventures, a Malaysian early-stage venture capital firm, has unveiled the Top 10 startups for its Alpha Startups Pre-Accelerator. The startups showcased ideas including a farmland marketplace for farmers, sustainable fashion, a self-care and social support platform, a borderless live tutoring platform, a POS Marketplace, and more.

From the over 100 startups that applied to the programme, 26 were chosen to go through a two-week course out of which 10 have now been picked to continue for another two weeks.

Through the course, the startups would receive mentoring, conduct market validation for product-market fit, plan their go-to-market strategies, learn pitching and more.

The Pre-Accelerator will conclude on 12 May 2023 with a live Demo Day at Google Malaysia's office in Axiata Tower, where the startups will present their pitches to investors.

A panel including Alpha Startups alumnus and founder of Vircle, Gokula Krishnan; author and broadcast journalist, Freda Liu; and 1337 founding partner, Bikesh Lakhmichand will judge the top 10 finalists.

These finalists will be competing for pre-seed funding of US$11,314 (RM50,000), in addition to digital credits and perks valued at up to US$4,526 (RM20,000).

The top 10 startups of the Alpha Startups Pre-Accelerator (Cohort 47) in no particular order are:

1. Beseek: Turns the online article provided into an audio summary.
2. CocoJack: A farmland marketplace that connects farmers with an unutilized-land owner.
3. ConfirmFresh: A fruit delivery service for office workers.
4. Kita: A social commerce platform for sustainable fashion.
5. Manis Leting: A syrup sweetener to help the food and beverage industries reduce the use of white sugar.
6. MyDeliva: A discovery service that connects general trade retailers to potential customers in their proximity.
7. Odar: A platform for MSMEs to boost sales, increase visibility, and gain access to analytics.
8. SAPOT: A self-care and social support platform that connects individuals struggling with compromised mental well-being to accessible, reliable, and trustworthy mental health services.
9. TigerCampus: A platform providing students access to live tutoring services.
10. Triphie: An all-in-one, personalised and collaborative trip planning platform that helps travellers discover, plan, and book their holidays.

In addition to the diverse verticals, four of the top ten shortlisted startups are spearheaded by female founders.

The Alpha Startups Pre-Accelerator programme is supported by the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI), Digital Penang, WORQ and Google for Startups. The Demo Day is available for streaming by registering at https://1337.ventures/alpha-startups/demo-day.

Sign-up for the next Alpha Startups cohort, at https://1337.ventures/alpha-startups/pre-register.

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