KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 ― Four Malaysian firms and startups have made it to the inaugural business news publication Forbes Asia’s “100 to Watch” list released today.
According to Forbes Asia, the list spotlights notable small companies and startups on the rise across the Asia-Pacific region at a time when economies worldwide were struggling from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Companies on the ‘100 to Watch’ list are making remarkable progress and impact in spite of the challenging climate brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Their inclusion on the list comes in part from addressing significant problems with innovative solutions,” Forbes Asia editor Justin Doebele was quoted as saying.
To qualify for consideration, companies had to be headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region, be at least one year old, privately owned, for profit, and have no more than US$20 million (RM85 million) in its latest annual revenue or total funding through August 1.
Among the methods used in the selection of firms included online submissions and extending invitations to relevant stakeholders to nominate companies, with the final 100 selected from over 900 submissions.
The profiles of four Malaysian firms on Forbes Asia “100 to Watch list” are as follows:
1. BrioHR
Category: Education and Recruitment
Founded in 2018, BrioHR is a cloud-based human resources management platform offering all-in-one services, from recruitment to payroll, for Small-Medium Enterprises (SME) in Southeast Asia.
Apart from Kuala Lumpur, it has offices located in Singapore and Paris as well.
A recent graduate of the Y Combinator incubator, BrioHR’s chief executive and co-founder Benjamin Croc had announced in March that it bagged US$1.3 million from investors including Global Founders Capital and East Ventures.
2. DoctorOnCall
Category: Biotechnology and Healthcare
Founded in 2016 by Maran Virumandi and Hazwan Najib, DoctorOnCall is a digital health platform that offers telehealth consultations with board-certified doctors, online pharmacy and delivery services, as well as booking services for doctors and specialists.
Accordingly, it is Malaysia’s first and largest online doctor consultation platform, with an estimated 3 million users nationwide.
3. Dropee
Category: E-commerce & Retail
Founded in 2017, Dropee claims to provide an integrated supply chain network that facilitates transactions between buyers to wholesale sellers in a quicker, more transparent way and empower them to serve their customers better.
Born from the drop-shipping concept, their platform allows for both suppliers and retailers to digitise sales orders, track inventories and fulfillment of goods as well as to access real-time analytical reports.
The startup now boasts some 30,000 businesses served with some 100,000 wholesale products on its B2B e-commerce marketplace platform.
Category: Construction & Engineering
Founded in 2009 by Aaron Patel, the company specialises in energy efficiency of commercial and industrial buildings improvements through innovative, economical and sustainable engineering solutions.
Accordingly, the company offers tailored mechanical and electrical solutions that help clients maximise their energy and operational savings in areas such as water heating, process cooling, air conditioning and waste heat to power applications.
Through its iHandal’s Heatfuse™ technology, the system capture and reuse buildings’ wasted heat and recycle it, offsetting up to 70 per cent of thermal emissions, with energy savings as high as 80 per cent.
