⚡ THE SIGNAL
Morning, founders. ☕ Here's the one shift worth your attention this week: Malaysia's "boring" IT & AI services companies are quietly becoming IPO-able.
On deck: three Malaysian tech firms heading to Bursa's ACE Market, Google's US$2B bet on a KL data centre, a podcast that reveals how VCs really rank you, and a play to land your first 10 customers.
One read. One win. Let's go. 👇
🌎 SEA Pulse · Across Southeast Asia
Malaysia's "unsexy" IT companies are going public
A Malaysian IT-services company, MM Computer Systems, is set to list on Bursa's ACE Market. The interesting part isn't the IPO — it's where the money goes: hardware/software procurement, hiring, capability building, and paying down bank debt. Translation: the market is still rewarding unsexy infrastructure businesses that have revenue, delivery capability and a clear expansion story.
🇲🇾 Malaysia: ACE appetite is hot — Pentech (cybersecurity/SOC & ICT) reportedly oversubscribed, and SRKK AI (AI/cloud, Microsoft partner) is lining up its own listing. Exits aren't only "sell to PE" or "raise VC." Read More
🇲🇾 Malaysia: Google committed US$2B to its first MY data centre & cloud region — site already picked at Sime Darby's Elmina Business Park, Greater KL. In-country compute is coming.
🇻🇳 Vietnam: Samsung is investing ~$1.5B in its first chip-testing plant near Hanoi (operations ~late 2027). Watch the supplier ecosystem — factory IT, automation, QA, logistics, cybersecurity.
🇸🇬 Singapore: floating voluntary "nutrition labels" for AI products — what they're for, their limits, how data's handled. Boring on paper, but exactly what enterprise buyers want.Takeaway: If you sell B2B software in SG/ID/VN, there's grant money on the table this quarter.
Takeaway: If you run an IT-services, cloud, MSP, ERP, cybersecurity or automation business with recurring revenue and enterprise accounts, you may be worth far more than you think — and an exit may be closer than you assume.
🏛️ Grant watch: MDEC's MDAG-AI grant supports Malaysian companies building, adopting or exporting AI solutions — worth a look if your product touches AI, automation or digital transformation. Apply Here
📊 By the Numbers · Where the money is going
SEA is now a magnet for AI & tech capital
$55B
committed to AI infrastructure across Southeast Asia in 2025 — the region went from "secondary" to hyperscaler front-row in ~18 months.
Takeaway: The capital coming in isn't just for moonshots — a chunk is infrastructure and fund-of-funds money (Khazanah's Jelawang Capital has already backed 10+ startups via Vynn, Kairous & First Move). If you're building in AI, cloud or deep-tech, the local LP base just got deeper. 💸
💰 The Deal Room · Capital, Exits & Signals
Who's listing, who raised, who's hunting
📊 This week: 3 Malaysian IT/AI firms eyeing Bursa ACE
IPO — MM Computer Systems, IT services, targeting ~RM26M on ACE. Execution businesses can still reach public markets.
IPO — Pentech using its raise to expand SOC / cybersecurity / ICT. Cyber & infra remain investable categories.
IPO — SRKK AI signed an underwriting agreement for an AI/cloud ACE listing. The AI services layer is becoming a public-market story.
Fresh raise — 🇸🇬 Handshake Finance took S$500K pre-seed for escrow-based payments (reported 3 Jun). 🇲🇾 Ficus Capital put ~US$422K into accessibility startup Simplify.
Takeaway: If you ever want to exit, start acting listed now — clean accounts, recurring revenue, stronger reporting, less founder dependency. The buyers are paying for durability, not pitch decks.
🎧 Founder Frequency · Podcast of the Week
900 megawatts of AI compute is sitting idle — in Johor
The 60-second version: ~900MW of GPU compute sits half-idle in Johor while the Bay Area scrambles for chips — nobody's built the routing layer between US demand and Asian supply yet. Peter on the ~12–18 month GPU window and why SG is the neutral ground.
The line that lands 🔌: Asia's AI bottleneck isn't compute — it's the connective tissue to use it.
Sam's take: 🎯 Listen right after the Google KL story above — same trend, founder's-eye view. If you build in AI/cloud, the cheap-compute arbitrage on your doorstep is a real edge most MY/SG founders are sleeping on.
📋 Got 60 seconds? Help shape what we send you
We use your answers to pick every story. Tell us what you want more of — it really changes the next issue.
🧰 The Playbook · Grow Faster
How to win your first 10 customers (no sales team)
"Getting customers" was the #1 thing you told us is slowing you down. The most-shared playbook on this (Lenny Rachitsky interviewed founders from Gong, Notion, Figma, Canva) boils down to a sequence:
1. Start with your network — the people who already trust you. 🤝
2. Strategic cold outbound (25 named targets, not a blast). 🎯
3. Tap your investors' / advisors' networks.
4. Add value in communities before you pitch.
5. Publish content — a surprising number of founders got early customers this way. ✍️
🔧 Steal this — position by category, not product :
Don't pitch "we're a startup that does X." Pitch the trend buyers already understand:AI adoption · cloud migration · cybersecurity · SME digitalisation · industrial automation. Buyers grasp categories faster than features.
Two channels I used for a decade in the West that almost no one uses here — cold email at volume, and Microsoft (Bing) ads. More on those Thursday.
✍️ Founder's Desk · From Sam
I left the Middle East for Southeast Asia — three years before it made sense
I spent years in the Middle East. About three years ago, I started winding that chapter down and moving east. I couldn't have told you exactly why at the time. I just knew something was coming.
I didn't know it would become a war. But from conversations with people who sit far closer to these things than I do, I believe it will be long — and that it has to be, before the region can find its way back to stable ground.
For SMBs across SEA, that shift will cut both ways. Some will get squeezed. Others will be handed the opening of a decade. Because as the Middle East rebuilds, it will lean east — to Asia for technology, partnership and trust. And the Middle East has always been the doorway to the market almost no one here is positioned for yet: Africa — the biggest growth story left on the map. 🌍
I'll share more when the time is right — and only as much as I should. For now: keep building, and keep watching the map.
The lesson: The biggest opportunities arrive disguised as disruption — and they're spotted early, by the few who are paying attention.
🤝 Help a Founder · Reader Question
"How do I build a repeatable way to win clients?"
"Most of my business has come from referrals and enterprise contacts. Now I want a repeatable way to win smaller clients on a steady basis. What's the most effective way to build a client-acquisition engine from scratch?"
This is a real question from a reader (anonymised). Got an answer that helped you? Your reply could help hundreds of founders — and the best one gets featured (with credit) on Thursday.
🏆 One More Thing · Founder Win
RM1,500 side hustle → eight-figure brand, now going regional
Two lawyers — Ivor Lim and Chew Hoi Meng — started HYGR as a RM1,500 pandemic side hustle making natural lip balms and deodorants. It's now a bootstrapped, eight-figure personal-care brand on seven-figure monthly revenue, expanding across SEA in 2026 (already in Singapore & Brunei; next: Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines). Read More —>
Why it matters: 💪 No VC, no blitzscale — just margin and patience. The "boring" bootstrapped path is quietly building some of MY's most durable consumer brands. Not every great exit starts with a term sheet.
👥 Know a founder who'd thrive here?
The best founders learn faster together. Invite someone building in SEA to join the community.
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How was today's issue?
That's your win for today. See you Thursday. 👋
— Sam, Asian Founder Digest