Early-stage tech startups in Malaysia are invited to apply to the EY Foundry startup incubator program to accelerate business growth through piloting and scaling activities with EY, in particular the EY Tax service line.

This year, the EY organization announced the continued expansion of the EY Foundry startup incubator program into Cambodia, Guam, Thailand and Vietnam. These markets will join Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka, where the program has been running since 2018, EY said in a statement on Friday.

EY Foundry said it is particularly keen to work with those startups that can enhance the EY Tax practice in any of the following innovation areas:

• Services of tomorrow: optimizing processes and enhancing the client experience
•  New enterprise: reimagining traditional Tax, Law and People Advisory Services (PAS) using disruptive technology to create new markets and business models
•  Sustainability: technology that delivers ESG and supply chain transformation resulting in net-zero or negative carbon emissions
•  People and wellness: embracing the future of work through continuous learning and development, and employee wellness

“Our incubator program has a new focus on innovation. Start-ups from all sectors are invited to collaborate with us in developing pilot solutions to enhance our clients’ experience and develop the services of tomorrow, leverage disruptive technology to create new markets and business models, meet sustainability goals, and stay centered on people and wellness,” Amarjeet Singh, EY Asean Tax Leader shared. “With the geographic expansion of this year’s program to include more countries in Southeast Asia, more start-ups in the region will have the opportunity to participate in the program and scale their business.”

Successful applicants to the program will be announced at a virtual launch event to be held in June 2022. Winning startups will be offered six months of participation in activities that include tailored learnings by EY subject-matter professionals, as well as EY piloting sessions to better prepare startup products to access the corporate community.

EY Foundry takes no equity in the startups and to further support the program’s participants in building their technology, the successful applicants will be given $120,000 worth of Microsoft Azure credits.

“Through this incubator program, we look forward to continue working with the relevant ministries and agencies to connect with the startup communities from across diverse sectors as well as supporting more budding entrepreneurs in Malaysia to achieve greater scale and impact by leveraging our professional experience, industry capabilities and global network,” Program Director of EY Foundry in Malaysia and Malaysia Tax Leader, Ernst & Young Tax Consultants Sdn Bhd, Farah Rosley said.

To qualify for the EY Foundry program, applicants must fulfill a set of criteria:

• Be an early-stage startup (Series A funding or earlier) that is technology- or product-related
•  Be able to demonstrate how the startup adds value to the EY business in at least one of the four innovation areas noted above
•  Have a working prototype or be working toward having a prototype that is scalable and can be used internationally

Founders of startups are invited to apply to the program until April 29, 2022 at ey.com/eyfoundry.

EY Foundry is the corporate venturing unit of EY, one of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms.

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