Growing startups in Asia, winning locally and scaling beyond the region. We take a look at how Malaysian startups disrupt the incumbents in Asia and what kind of strategies they take to scale beyond their local market.

1. GROWING IN ASIA
How to survive local disruption while going global
Alex Barrera
alex@thealeph.com

2. HELLO MY NAME IS...

3. My Blended Experience

4. FACE TO FACE
FORUMS (WhatsApp)
WOW Room

5. Growing in Asia Group
http://bit.ly/GrowingInAsia

6. Entrepreneurial Region by nature

7. Historically entrepreneurial

8. Later Silla sea dominion
Trade Control

9. China Silk Road control
Trade Control

10. Despite Europe… Asia trade was central

11. Quay in Penang (~1910)

12. Gunpowder

13. Compass

17. First Movable Type

18. Horticulture & use of grafts

19. Horticulture & use of grafts

20. Taoism

21. Buddhism

22. Confucianism

23. 4 books and 5 classics (四書五經)

24. Major peace in the region (Tang Dynasty)

25. Islam

26. Buddhism
British rule
Strait Settlements

27. Rise of the Startups

28. Source: https://oec.world/en/profile/country/mys/

30. Yi-Ren Ng
CEO Lytro

32. Pua Khein-Seng
CEO Phison Electronics Corp

34. Number of internet users in selected countries in the Asia-Pacific region as of
January 2019, by country (in millions)
Source: Statista 2019
32 million

35. Internet user penetration in Malaysia from 2017 to 2023
Source: Statista 2019

36. Source: The Mobile Economy Asia-Pacific 2018 Report.GSM Association.

37. Source: The Mobile Economy Asia-Pacific 2018 Report.GSM Association.

38. Mobile phone internet user penetration in Malaysia from 2017 to 2023
Source: Statista 2019

39. Source: e-Conomy SEA 2018 Report.Google-Temasek

40. Source: CBInsights Data.The Aleph Report elaboration.

41. Source: CBInsights Data.The Aleph Report elaboration.

44. Sectors

45. Online Retail

46. Online Retail

47. Source: e-Conomy SEA 2018 Report.Google-Temasek

49. FinTech

50. FinTech

51. Cryptocurrencies
Last June, a Malaysian government advisory
committee, Majlis Perundingan Melayu signed a
memorandum of understanding with South
Korean blockchain lab IncuBlock for blockchain tech
development permissible under Sharia law.

52. Cryptocurrencies

53. Autonomous Machines

54. Autonomous Machines

55. Autonomous Machines

56. Media

57. Media
Source: e-Conomy SEA 2018 Report.Google-Temasek

58. Health

59. Health

60. Health

61. Incumbent Disruption

62. High-Tech exports plummeting

63. Source: https://oec.world/en/profile/country/mys/

64. Source: https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/import/mys/show/8542/2017/

65. Disruption coming from outside
“A paradigm shift among SMEs, especially in innovation and
creative solutions, is key to propelling the manufacturing
industry forward as it accounts for 98.5% of manufacturing
companies and 42% of employment,”
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad,Jul.2019
“

66. General disregard for small startups

67. General disregard for small startups

68. General disregard for small startups
Hello Robotics

69. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)

70. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself

71. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself
Focus on new business models, not self improvement

72. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself
Focus on new business models, not self improvement
CVC isn’t just about ROI

73. Tips for incumbents
Don’t undervalue disruptive tech (i.e. Blockchain)
Focus on trends, not tech itself
Focus on new business models, not self improvement
CVC isn’t just about ROI
Begin working with Venture Builders

74. Scaling beyond the region

75. Local still complicated

76. Very conservative
(Sharia Law)

77. Venture Capital problems
Loans instead of investments
No real VC partners but employees
Draconian term sheets
Small funds
Lack of serial entrepreneurs

78. Source: Cento Research

79. The Trade Wars

83. Source: Southeast Asia Tech Investment in 2018.Cento

84. Source: https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/mys/show/8542/2017/

85. HUAWEI
NVIDIA / QUALCOMM

87. Natural scaling regions
Source: e-Conomy SEA 2018 Report.Google-Temasek

88. Source: e-Conomy SEA 2018 Report.Google-Temasek

89. Cross border investments

90. Avoided markets

91. Avoided markets

92. 660 M
vs
743 M

94. Average annual spending per capita for online shopping in Europe from 2015 to 2018,
by country (in euros**)
Source: Statista 2019

95. 28 countries
23 official languages

96. Northern Europe
Southern Europe
4000 KM

97. Western Europe
Eastern Europe

100. Source: Dealroom.co.Excludes buyouts,secondary transactions,debt,ICOs,lending capital,grants.

101. Distributed Startups

102. Global Scope
Most SEA too regional
Some players undervalued

103. Europe - Asia opportunities

104. Market Saturation

105. Local Corporates (CVC)
Who funds the region?

106. Increased competition

107. Organic growth

108. Breaking the regional lock

109. Excel at scale
Apply to Europe

110. Lessons of efficiency

111. Logistics (Forward Freighter)
Operations (massive retail operations)
Automation (autonomous vehicle China roads)
Recommendation (Dynamic Yield)
Semiconductors – AI chipsets (Xiaomi)
5G (Huawei)
Cryptocurrencies
eSports
Cybersecurity & Privacy technology

112. http://www.slideshare.net/thealeph Alex Barrera (@abarrera)
THANK YOU
Alex Barrera
alex@thealeph.com

113. Growing in Asia Group
http://bit.ly/GrowingInAsia
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abarrera