KUALA LUMPUR’S TECH STARTUP ECOSYSTEM GENERATES MORE THAN RM220 BILLION IN VALUE OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS

According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2024, Kuala Lumpur has made significant progress, with over RM220 billion (USD47 billion) in Ecosystem Value created between July 2021 and December 2023. Fast growth in this city has put it in the top 30 of emerging ecosystems.

In the GSER 2024 report, Kuala Lumpur’s ecosystem has also achieved notable rankings in several key areas within Asia:

• Top 15 Asia Ecosystem in Funding: This ranking highlights Kuala Lumpur’s innovation capacity through robust early-stage funding and active investor participation.
• Top 20 Asia Ecosystem in Performance: This measure reflects the ecosystem’s overall size and success, considering the cumulative value created by tech startups through exits and funding.
• Top 20 Asia Ecosystem in Talent & Experience: This ranking acknowledges Kuala Lumpur’s strong long-term trends in crucial performance factors, showcasing the depth of talent and experience in the ecosystem.
• Top 25 Asia Ecosystem in Affordable Talent: This category measures the city’s ability to attract and hire tech talent cost-effectively, emphasising its competitive advantage in building a skilled workforce.
• Top 30 Asia Ecosystem in Bang for Buck: This ranking measures the amount of runway tech startups acquire, on average, from a VC round.
• Educated talent and ease of doing business are cited as reasons a startup should move to the ecosystem.

The report says Kuala Lumpur is good for new business. To support this, Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd and the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation are key. In the Malaysia Startup Ecosystem Roadmap (SUPER) 2021–2030, YB Tuan Chang Lih Kang, Minister of MOSTI, said the ministry aims to make Malaysia one of the top 20 for new business by 2030.

Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, CEO of Cradle’s Group, said ecosystem players work together to drive regional innovation and technical growth. With data of over 4.5 million startups in 300 ecosystems globally, GSER 2024 has more than 160 economic and innovation ministries worldwide.