KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — Kuala Lumpur was listed as the second best location for Internet startups globally due to its multiracial and multicultural diversity, according to a list published by Swiss-based Seedstars World.
In the list prepared by the firm that conducts competitions in emerging markets to identify the best new startups and based on research by Richard Madison of the Brighton School of Business and Management, Kuala Lumpur was listed behind Beijing and is the only country in the region included.
The entry on Malaysia noted that the ruling Barisan Nasional’s push for the country to achieve high-income status with its Economic Transformation Programme will make technology pivotal.
“Startups tend to also prefer Malaysia because it is a good test market (larger than Singapore) and you have three different nationalities (sic) present.
“So if you make it in Malaysia, you have a good sense of potential markets like the Chinese, Malay/Indonesian and Indian,” SeedStars founder Alisee de Tonnac told Forbes contributor Amy Guttman for her entry on the list.
De Tonnac added that living costs in Kuala Lumpur were comparatively cheaper than Singapore, prompting many startups to operate out of the Malaysian capital as well as the Cyberjaya technology hub.
She added, however, that many of these firms were incorporated in Singapore, which she said was home to more institutions providing seed capital for startups.
Other cities in the list according to the order given are Warsaw, Moscow, Bangalore, Sydney, El ghazela (Tunisia), London, Cairo, and Sofia.
