KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Nov 15 (Bernama-PRNewswire) -- HAAS ASIA SDN BHD with brand name Smart Rental, a smart subscription business has successfully raised RM 4.6 million (1.1 million USD) from 177 investors in just one month, vastly exceeding its minimum target amount by more than three times.
This project was facilitated by Malaysia's leading equity crowdfunding (ECF) platform,
MyStartr, which was approved by the Securities Commission (SC) for the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MYCIF), which is a fund that co-invests in ECF and peer-to-peer campaigns with a ratio of 1:4. MyStartr aims to raise funds for 5,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by 2030.
A previous crowdfunding at MyStartr platform from February to April of 2020, Linear Channel Sdn Bhd a subsidiary of Haas Asia Sdn Bhd has successfully raised RM1.33 million which far exceeded their original target of RM500,000.
Commenting on the funding achievement, chief executive officer of Haas Asia Sdn Bhd, Joshua Chin Tong Lim said, "our campaign with MyStartr reflects the successful business model recognized by the market. It is an important step in the company's growth, and we are very grateful to have investors who believed in our growth and potential."
Smart Rental was first introduced to the market based on a Haas (Hardware-as-a-Service) service provision model (integrated
Credit, Services, Exchange into monthly
subscription service). This business model has been validated by multiple panels of business experts at the 2019 Create@Alibaba Cloud Startup Contest, where it won recognition as one of the Top 10 best business models; Pitch Selangor 2019, where it achieved the same result; and 2020 Golden Bull Awards, as an Emerging SMEs Award and last but not least, The Lang Titanium Award for The Best Use of Technology. Smart Rental offers 12 or 24-months PC subscription packages at different price points, encompassing the following services: the right to use the PC, regular maintenance visits and software upgrades, repairs and exchanges, and free PC model upgrades upon contract renewal. On average, Smart Rental customers
save 87% on the PC purchase cash outlay and
55% on maintenance and services.
Offer a solution to overcome the computer needsThe smart subscription model accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. "Many work-from-home (WFH) and Smart Rental caters to all consumers and SMEs that prefer to get electronic products with worry-free maintenance service for free," Joshua Chin explained. Within a year, over 1100 subscription contracts have been issued, with a total value of RM 5.2 million. Smart Rental will soon launch its
CSR computer crowdsourcing initiative under the brand name
Sambong Future, an initiative to connect B40 students to a sponsor thru its contractual giving/gifting.
Smart Rental is also developing a digital engineer platform which will accelerate the maintenance service nationwide and upcoming are Smart Centres across the country with its first outlet opening its doors in Mid Valley. By 2040, it is expected to have more than 50,000 subscribers.
About Smart RentalSmart Rental is run by Linear Channel Sdn. Bhd, a company that started by refurbishing and reselling second-hand PCs under the brand name BuyNow. The Company diversified into the short-term PC rental market around 2010 and HaaS solutions for PCs in 2019. The Haas model is in high demand as consumers are currently more reliable on devices for learning and getting work done. With this, consumers enjoy similar solutions only previously offered by companies to serve large companies and government agencies. Smart Rental is well-positioned to capitalise on the demand.
For more project details:
MyStartr Smart Rental CONTACT: Michelle Tiong,
tiongmin@mystartr.comSource: HAAS ASIA SDN BHD--BERNAMA