BANDAR SUNWAY: LaunchX, the first university start-up accelerator programme in Malaysia, announced the commencement of its 2024 cohort from March to August 2024, a 3+2-month programme, currently open to all university student entrepreneurs in Malaysia.
LaunchX 2024 took place in March 2024, officiated by Secretary of the Strategic Planning Division of the Ministry of Higher Education, Fazidah Mustafa, who said:
“LaunchX 2024 is a programme under the Ministry of Higher Education through a collaborative effort between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Sunway Innovation Labs at Sunway University (iLabs Foundry), aimed at assisting student entrepreneurs with new ideas by providing funding through star-ups.
The LaunchX programme represents a significant milestone in the collaboration between private and public universities to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
President of Sunway University Prof Sibrandes Poppema,, added:
“The LaunchX partnership between UTM and Sunway University provides a platform for student entrepreneurs to thrive and transform their validated ideas into viable start-ups. By working together, both institutions contribute to the realisation of the Entrepreneurship Action Plan-Higher Education Institutions (EAP-HEIs) 2021-2025, highlighting the synergies between both universities in contributing expertise, networks, and resources to enhance the early-stage start-up ecosystem.
At Sunway University, we are pleased with the expansion of this public-private collaboration that will provide opportunities to even more young entrepreneurs and is the way forward for Malaysia.”
The response to LaunchX 2024 has been overwhelming, with the participation of 116 student startups and 274 student entrepreneurs, from 43 higher education institutions across 12 states in Malaysia. After a rigorous selection process, 45 student startups were chosen, representing only a 40% acceptance rate.
During these events, the Ministry of Higher Education, Cradle Fund and Sunway University will offer supportive grants to student entrepreneurs to further develop their startups.
Among the notable LaunchX 2023 alumni was ‘Unilah’ from Universiti Malaya, a student lifestyle app designed to enhance university experiences by helping students save money, participate in events, and secure job opportunities. Through LaunchX 2023, Unilah received two investments from the mentors and venture capital partners of LaunchX and formed two major corporate partnerships.
Another startup is SDG Energy+ from Sunway University, whose product provides sustainable thermal comfort regulation. Through LaunchX, SDG Energy+ successfully conducted two pilot trials for technology validation.
Student entrepreneur from University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Khalida Anis Mohd Noor Azudin joined LaunchX 2023 and co-founded ‘Auritma’, which designed life-saving earbuds that is simple, convenient, and accessible to all, enabling preventive measures against cardiac arrest, said:
“Joining LaunchX 2023 was an incredible journey; it has impacted both my personal growth and my startup’s growth. During this programme, we were paired with mentors to guide us through our journey. The mentors were really helpful. Our mentors and LaunchX helped us refine our idea, business model and helped us prepare for the future of our startup.”
Principal of Artem Ventures, Tengku Omar Asraf Tengku Hasmuddin, said:
“LaunchX is a great platform and inclusive program for early-stage startup development. The program also provided university spinoffs access to learn from subject matter experts, industry leaders, and investors to commercialise and grow.
‘Auritma’ has shown tremendous improvement at the end of the programme, by improving their technical approach and articulating clearly the product and problem statements.”
To learn more about LaunchX 2024, please visit https://innovationlabs.sunway.edu.my/launchx/.
