DisruptInvest Summit 2023: Respond.io and Lapasar demonstrate the value of getting the business and team right

Writing for Digital News Asia in May 2023, Anwar Jumabhoy recapped a panel he moderated at the DisruptInvest Summit 2023 in Kuala Lumpur. The session paired Lapasar with Respond.io to explore what actually earns a startup its valuation: getting the business and the team right.

Lapasar's Fundraising Journey

Representing Lapasar on the panel was Noomi Fessler, who joined the company at its first raise in 2018 and now serves as its CFO. As recounted in the session, Lapasar began with a seed round of RM50,000 and went on to complete several further rounds — raising more than RM25 million in total, with a RM15 million round closing in December 2022. It was a track record that underscored the panel's central point: fundamentals precede valuation.

Proof That Malaysia Can Build at Scale

The broader takeaway was that Malaysia is not too small a market to build a large, profitable business. Lapasar's growth into the country's largest B2B procurement platform — backed by owned warehousing and a 10,000-strong supplier network — has since reinforced that thesis.

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