RunningMan.my has become the second company to be fully funded on pitchIN Equity’s crowdfunding platform. The last mile logistics startup successfully raised its target amount of RM175,000 moments after it went live on Monday, 22 August 2015.
RunningMan is a fast growing marketplace platform with instant delivery (typically within an hour) that users can use to reach out to nearby shops and restaurants. Users pick the product they want and runners deliver them in super-fast time. RunningMan riders are stationed at strategic points within its coverage area.
This success caps a period of fast growth and multiple recognitions received by a startup that was funded just over a year ago by 2 founders who were still university students then. In that period, they have expanded to more zones, averaged 20% growth month on month, stayed at break-even point despite this expansion, increased their user base from 200 users to nearly 7,000 users and increased their offerings from just food deliveries to full last mile logistics services.
RunningMan was picked best startup at the ASEAN Startup Campus Accelerator boot camp held in conjunction with the 1AES summit last November 2015. This startup also made history by becoming the first Angel Tax Incentive (ATI) accredited company to raise funds through equity crowdfunding.
Andrew Chee, the CEO of RunningMan is delighted with this latest achievement, ‘We are very happy to see that investors believe in us. I want to record our appreciation to our lead investors, Nexea Angels, BizAngel Networks and WTF Accelerator for taking the lead in making this happen. We are a young team but we have proven with our results that we have the potential to become a leading player in the on-demand economy. With these funds, we will build better mobile and IT solutions and also expand to cover the full KLang Valley. RunningMan riders are ready to assist consumers and businesses with their delivery and purchasing needs.”
Sam Shafie, CEO of pitchIN Equity congratulates RunningMan on achieving their funding goal. “We are happy with the strong interest shown by investors. We knew during our pre-marketing stage that RunningMan would do well as investors had indicated their desire to participate in this deal. RunningMan is exactly the kind of company that equity crowdfunding was introduced into Malaysia for. The founders are bright young kids who are brave and very entrepreneurial. We believe they will go far and wish them all the best.”
Three Lead Investors came together to front this deal. Nexea Angels is a Venture Builder based in Kuala Lumpur. It builds and funds startups in Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia. The partners at Nexea are businesspeople who have exited their companies via Trade Sales and IPOs. They have a progressive technology team that specialises in scaling startups.
BizAngel Network is a platform where investors discover interesting projects to fund and entrepreneurs look for startup funding. BizAngel Network was created by a group of successful entrepreneurs, investors, marketing and management experts, lawyers and accountants who have built companies in a diverse set of industries.
WatchTower and Friends are venture builders. Under the tagline, “We start things’, its tech accelerator WTF Accelerator identifies emerging and interesting startups, gives them initial seed capital, instils necessary skills in them and launch their venture. WTF Accelerator has over 20 startups in its portfolio.
The Angel Tax Incentive programme is designed to help technology based startups in Malaysia to raise funds by offering tax incentives to angels who have invested in these companies. Accredited angel investors can get tax deductions on their aggregate income equivalent to the amount of their investment after two years of their shareholding period in a qualified investee company. The deduction will be applicable in the third year of their shareholding period.