Open For Business

Founded in 2015 by Giden Lim and Penny Choo, BloomThis wanted to address the gaps in the floristry industry observed by the husband-wife duo, including boring floral designs, poor customer experience, and a lacklustre buying and delivery experience.

BloomThis started off as a flower subscription service but evolved into a full-on online gifting store, and has even ventured into the physical world with the opening of 3 brick-and-mortar stores.

We speak to Giden Lim, the CEO and co-founder of BloomThis, about the brand’s journey spanning the past nine years, delving into the company’s evolution, the recent expansion into physical stores, the intricacies of navigating the flower industry, why Bloomthis prioritised profitability over growth, and reasons behind why Giden and Penny bought all their shares back from investors.

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In today’s world, it’s important that parents understand the challenges of exposing gadgets to their kids. Some highlight negative effects on children's well-being and others emphasise the potential for learning and growth. In a world where these conflicting reports surround the impact of gadgets on children, myFirst has stood out in this space to bridge the gap between technology, education, and family values.

Launched in 2018, myFirst addresses the need for a digital space where children can interact safely while enjoying meaningful connections. With nearly 10 device categories, including watch phones, cameras, earbuds, 3D pens, sketch boards, and headphones, myFirst products are now available in over 42 countries including Singapore, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Spain, UK and the USA, just to name a few.

At the forefront of myFirst’s innovative approach is myFirst Circle, a community app for kids that has connected nearly 30,000 users across 100 countries, providing a secure platform for authentic social engagements. With the start of 2024 - marking new beginnings and innovation, myFirst is now thrilled to introduce myFirst 2.0 Circle, accompanied by the launch of 4 cutting-edge devices: myFirst Fone R2, myFirst Voice 2, myFirst Frame Doodle, and myFirst Frame Live.

Today on Open For Business, I’m joined in the studio by G-Jay Yong, Founder of myFirst Circle to understand the inspiration behind myFirst’s products, the impact of gadgets on children's development and what myFirst has in store for 2024 and beyond.

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Profitable Aerodyne could IPO as soon as next year. The drone solutions provider made $65 million in revenue in 2023 and expects to hit $143 million this year, with plans to raise between $100 to $200 million in its Series C funding round. Series C will mark its final pre-IPO funding round and with a dual-listing on the cards, they are expecting to list locally as well as abroad. On the shortlist of foreign exchanges includes the NYSE, the Nasdaq, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In this episode of Open For Business, you will learn what drew Kamarul out of the corporate world and into the drone business and startup life, what the early days of building Aerodyne were like and how much the company has evolved in the last decade, as well as where the company is in its Series C funding round and why M&A continues to be a key strategy for growth.

Kamarul has his roots in audit and chartered accountancy, before getting a taste of tech that led him towards entrepreneurship when he founded Malaysia.tv in 2003, before running a production house called DKM2 in 2006. Interestingly enough it was the UAV division of his production house that became the first version of Aerodyne.

Founded in 2014, Aerodyne was just a 3-person startup, 10 years later– it’s a global business that was ranked the World's Number 1 drone service provider for 3 consecutive years. The company now operates in more than 45 countries and across various sectors like oil and gas, security and surveillance, and agriculture.

Aerodyne has raised around $80-90 million in 5 fundraising rounds and is backed by quite a list of investors, including Gobi Ventures, 500 Global, KWAP, and Petronas Ventures. The company isn't afraid to splash the cash to buy growth having 21 global M&As in the last 10 years and is looking to raise $100 million to $200 million in its Series C funding round to continue its growth story, organically and inorganically to buy market access and the technology.

Beyond this Series C round (which it expects to be its final pre-IPO round), the next key milestone for Aerodyne is their much anticipated IPO, with Kamarul saying last year that this could happen within the next 2-3 years, with a dual-listing potentially on the cards.

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With the ever-evolving landscape of logistics and distribution, companies in this sector face the ongoing challenge of providing high-quality services at an affordable cost, all while trying to push the boundaries of innovation.

Against this backdrop is Hoor Fatt Enterprise, a Malaysia based logistics company specialising in transportation services and warehouse management for cargo movement in the region.

Borrowing the concept from sea ports, Hoor Fatt has now turned their plant into a logistics hub which led them to be recognised as one of the fastest growing companies in Malaysia back in 2016. And now with a second-generation leader, the company holds a deeper vision for an eco-conscious future.

Today on Open For Business, we’ll be speaking with Loh Choon Hong, CEO of Hoor Fatt Enterprise, on what it feels like to embrace the company’s legacy, their unique business model and what the future holds for Hoor Fatt Enterprise in 2024.

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Founded in 2017, WORQ is currently present in 7 locations across the Klang Valley and an additional unique location at Perhentian Island, with more in the works, given the potential they see in the industry.

WORQ is currently on track to triple its space under management to 450,000 sq ft by 2025 and has ambitious plans to expand its space under management to a sizable 3 million sq ft by 2030.

The company started with RM1.5 million in revenue in 2017, made RM17 million last year, and is aiming for RM25 million in 2024, and on the back of 80% revenue growth and mid-teen net profit margins last year, WORQ announced in October that it raised an undisclosed pre-series B backed by 14 follow-on investors including global asset management firm PhillipCapital and the Leong family of Mah Sing Group Bhd.

Looking ahead, to support its ambition, WORQ is targeting to raise RM40 million in its Series B funding round.

We speak with CEO Stephanie Ping and CFO Andrew Yeow, to get a better understanding of how they’ve profitability navigated the last 7 years in the coworking landscape despite the downfall of WeWork, how WORQ has partnered with property players and developers to grow, and what the path ahead looks like for the Space-As-A-Service model as the aim to become the Amazon Web Services of office space.

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On this episode of Open For Business, Lennise Ng, Founder and CEO, and Aizat Rahim, Co-founder and Managing Director, get into, among other things, why and how they built Dropee and started with Dropshipping, how Red Bull gave them their big break early on in their Dropee journey, and the reasons behind the rebrand to Borong and what it signals ahead. We also get into their USD$57 million in revenue last year and expansion plans ahead, how their on-going Series B fundraising round is going as they aim for at least $10 million in funding, and why an IPO is the desired exit, instead of a trade sale.

Founded in 2017, the company formerly known as Dropee is a B2B eCommerce solution provider that looks to help businesses optimise their supply chain using various digital tools and initiatives, helping businesses better manage their inventory and stock tracking, tap into of digitalisation by enabling a smooth Offline to Online transformation, and harnessing the power of data-driven decision making to personalise orders, thus increasing customer satisfaction and driving sales.

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As we’re all busy with our daily routines at work, it is common that we face similar issues like having insufficient time to practise a sustainable work-life balance, skipping meals at work or we simply can’t find the time to put in a couple of hours for exercising.

From being in the legal field to active business owners, Collin Chang and Joslyn Yip came up with TasteBudds, a company that provides wellness products, particularly through liquid meals to people of various income levels, with a clear vision to help those with a hectic schedule. Now, they are looking to expand to overseas markets as this issue of practising a healthy work-life balance is not only common here in Malaysia, but also in many if not all major metropolitan cities as well.

With that, today on the show, we’re joined by both Collin Chang and Joslyn Yip, Co-Founders of TasteBudds, to understand their journey from being lawyers to business owners, key challenges they faced during this transition and what the future looks like for TasteBudds in 2024 and beyond.

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Hann Liew and Lucas Ooi are co-founders of fintech firm Jirnexu, the company behind RinggitPlus, and after 11 years building the company, they left their executive leadership roles in July last year. A few weeks later, along with a third co-founder Ng Moon Ho, the former director of operations at RinggitPlus, they announced their next chapter in entrepreneurship - Halogen Capital - a digital asset fund manager.

Halogen has a full Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to manage digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and tokenized assets, and using the unit trust fund structure, they launched their Shariah Bitcoin Fund last year and very recently soft-launched their Shariah Ethereum Fund.

We speak to Hann and Lucas about the transition from Jirnexu to Halogen, how building a startup the second time differs from the first time, why they have ventured into Digital Assets and crypto space, and the potential ahead for this venture.

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On this episode of Open For Business, we speak to Wealth Vantage Advisory’s Rafiq Hidayat and Idham Idris about the business of financial planning, what it needs to do to keep up with the times, and why they believe that AI won’t replace Financial Planners.

We also explore the reasons behind starting this relatively new firm and why they broke away from the commission-driven agency mentality to focus on comprehensive financial planning, what’s behind their ambition to grow by 20X by 2026, and recruitment strategies given that ​ the number of Financial Planners is key to driving a firm’s revenue growth.

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Kakitangan.com is a one-stop HR platform that wants to empower businesses to work smarter with a fully automated HR system that covers payroll, leave, claims, attendance, and more, so that you can focus on business growth.

On this episode of Open for Business, you will learn what took 2 former Microsoft Office engineers down the road of building a HR platform, the success and and failures along the way, and what it means to become the People Operating System for SMEs in Malaysia.

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