- Malaysian startup, Zoom won Startup of the Year award at the 3rd ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards (the’ Rice Bowl’) ceremony, along with 13 other regional winners in various categories picked to represent Southeast Asia at the Global Startup Awards in China next year.
- The awards ceremony also saw an MoU Exchange Ceremony between myNEF and its 6 country partners from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and Philippines for the rights to host the national-level Rice Bowl Startup awards in the respective countries.
- “The Rice Bowl is the official Southeast Asia circuit for the Global Startup Awards and it provides the opportunity for market access, funding and media exposure regionally,” says CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF) and Chairman of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards, Lilyana Latif.
- Throughout the two-day event, cumulatively a total of USD26.4million (RM108 million) in funding has been pledged by investors to invest in the Finalists.
Kuala Lumpur, 14 December 2017 – Malaysian startup, Zoom won Startup of the Year award at the 3rd ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards (the’ Rice Bowl’) ceremony, along with 13 other regional winners in various categories picked to represent Southeast Asia at the Global Startup Awards in China next year.
“The ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards is a regional platform for innovative, local-grown entrepreneurs to break out into the global market,” says CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF) and Chairman of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards, Lilyana Latif.
Organised by myNEF since 2015, the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards celebrates the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem. It is the first regional award that recognises outstanding startups that provide innovative and sustainable solutions on improving local livelihood,and has the potential to be scalable regionally.
“The Rice Bowl is the official Southeast Asia circuit for the Global Startup Awards and it provides the opportunity for market access, funding, and media exposure regionally,” she adds. Throughout the two-day event, cumulatively a total of USD26.4million (RM108 million) in funding has been pledged by investors to invest in the Finalists. The Investor Matching session was moderated and organized by Cradle.
Winners will also get to participate in cross-regional exchange programs in Southeast Asia and attend other Global Startup Awards celebrations to expand their network and gather information for market access.
A total of 2,000 entries were received from 10 countries across Southeast Asia, of which 89 category winners were shortlisted to compete at the regional awards. A panel of 25 judges then evaluated the entries in 3 broad areas: actual and potential growth, scalability and impact.
The Winners for the 3rd ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards are:
Special Awards
- Startup of The Year – Zoom (Malaysia)
- Founder of the Year – Sopheakmonkol Sol (SokhaKrom) (Cambodia)
- Best Newcomer – BuildEasy (Malaysia)
- People’s Choice – Zoom (Malaysia)
- Special Recognition – Agrome IQ (Brunei)
Startups
- Best Social Impact Startup – MallSampah (Indonesia)
- Best Smart City Solution – Grab (Singapore)
- Best e-Commerce / Supply Chain Startup – Eatigo (Singapore)
- Best Healthy Lifestyle Tech Startup – HonestBee (Thailand)
- Best Life Sciences / MedTech Startup – CLAS Healthcare (Vietnam)
- Best Fintech Startup – Qwikwire Billing Systems (Philippines)
- Best DeepTech / AI / Big Data Startup – Glueck Technology (Malaysia)
Ecosystem Support
- Best Accelerator Program – Global Accelerator Program (GAP) by MaGIC (Malaysia)
- Best Co-Working Space – Hubud (Indonesia)
Hosted by Filipino e-sports host Eri Neeman and Astro VBuzz talkshow host, Shareeta Selvaraj, this year’s ceremony was held in conjunction with the Global Entrepreneurship Community (GEC) Summit in Kuala Lumpur.
The awards ceremony also saw a MoU Exchange Ceremony between myNEF and its 6 country partners from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines for the rights to host the national-level Rice Bowl Startup awards in the respective countries. The ceremony was witnessed by the Ambassador from Brunei and embassy representatives.
“This will help forge a more collaborative network throughout the region. We envision the Rice Bowl to expand its activities beyond the Awards process,” says Lilyana in her speech to introduce the launch of the Rice Bowl Republic, a collaborative initiative to create more value offerings to the region.
“In the years to come, the Rice Bowl will be enriching its framework to include deeper monitoring of its alumni of nominees, matching founders to investors and mentors, looking out for business and media opportunities for its finalists and winners – throughout the year and beyond the Awards season. Our pledge is to make Southeast Asia as an incubator or breeding ground for global startups that are focused on sustainable developmental goals.”
The Rice Bowl is a culmination of events announcing Rice Bowl national circuit winners held throughout 10 ASEAN countries.
The Rice Bowl is made possible from the support from strategic partners; ASEAN Centre of Entrepreneurship of the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MAGIC) and CRADLE; partners InnovAsian, Supernewsroom, PR Newswire, Melinda Looi and Action Apparel, as well as country and community partners.
For the latest updates on the program, kindly visit ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards official facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ricebowlawards/
P/S- Well done to all the winners and to MyNEF from all of us at Newstream Asia!
