PENANG I4.0 SEED FUND STREAM # 2 RECOGNITION DAY
SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG
AT PENANG I4.0 SEED FUND STREAM # 2 RECOGNITION DAY
30 April 2019
@CAT Wisma Yeap Chor Ee, George Town, Penang
Dato’ Loo Lee Lian
Chief Executive Officer of InvestPenang
Mr Howie Chang
Program Director of @CAT Penang
Members of the Penang i4.0 Seed Fund Evaluation Committee
Members of the start-up community
Members of the press
Ladies & Gentlemen
Good afternoon, everyone.
I am very much pleased to be here at the Penang i4.0 Seed Fund Recognition Day, stream number 2, today. The successful launch of i4.0 Seed Fund in August 2018 had benefitted 16 companies. I hope the companies which form the second batch of start-ups could maximise their full potential through the awarded fund and further enhance the growth of the tech ecosystem in Penang.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Penang State Government established the Penang i4.0 Seed Fund in March 2018 with an allocation of USD 1 million. We want to create awareness and increase participation in the Industry 4.0 revolution and digital economy that is shaping our world today. For the first round, we are pleased to witness some of our recipient companies over the last few months gaining local and international attention such as Telebort Technologies, E-KEBUN, Good Foodie Media and a few others.
For the second round, RM1.35 million from the Penang i4.0 Seed Fund will be dished out to 11 companies and each of them will be receiving an amount in the range of RM50,000 to RM200,000. These 11 companies involve in a wide range of business activities, which include wellness monitoring platform, pet-owner connecting platform, e-commerce related software and platform, smart cognitive system based on AI technology, sensor product for manufacturing lines, commercial vehicle fleet control system, farming system among others. I hope that this funding will catalyse their growth, providing greater dynamics to scale their business and enable them to reach their targeted customers in a more efficient way.
In this joyful event, I also wish to announce the launch of two LeapSprint programmes. Our objectives here are to ensure that there is a funnel of quality tech start-ups produced locally and that our recipients to remain successful and competitive in their businesses with the necessary support from the State. For LeapSprint Startup Founders Programme, it will be a 10-day curriculum designed specifically to drive individuals who are passionate about their business potential and expose them to the fundamental insights and tools in order to increase the odds of success. Meanwhile, for LeapSprint Startup Mentoring Programme, it is designed for the i4.0 Seed Fund recipients. This is a 6-month programme with monthly series of talks by notable technology and business mentors, covering fundraising, finance, sales and negotiation, scaling up and team building.
Penang has come a long way in facilitating and developing the startup ecosystem. After three and a half years since the launch of the RM23 million @CAT within Penang Wisma Yeap Chor Ee, @CAT has served as the catalyst for Penang to accelerate emerging tech start-ups and entrepreneurs to gain access to our co-working space with shared facilities, tech community events and entrepreneurship development programmes. An accumulative total of 2,500 co-working space applications were approved from October 2015 to April 2019 and more than 250 tech community events and entrepreneurship development programmes combined were held at @CAT Penang. As for the talent supply for start-up companies are concerned, we consistently conduct e-commerce, coding and IoT-related workshops, aiming to provide job opportunities to the community in learning programming and improving their career marketability.
The establishment of Penang i4.0 Seed Fund and capacity building programmes align to support the cultivation of Penang2030 vision towards realizing a “Smart State that Inspires the Nation”. Through these initiatives, we aspire to foster an ecosystem to nurture our talents in the digital and tech circles. It is with these progressions, we are able to upgrade our economy and raise the living standards of our people, powering one of the four foundations of our Penang2030 vision.
Once again, I wish to congratulate all the 11 recipient companies. We look forward to your success and contribute more job opportunities to the state.
Thank you.