Cult Creative secures seed funding from The Hive Southeast Asia

Cult Inventive, a Malaysian creator economic system firm, has secured a RM500,000 seed funding from The Hive Southeast Asia, a January 4 press launch introduced.

Connecting manufacturers with creators, Cult Inventive makes use of know-how to help manufacturers in discovering becoming creators, streamlining workflows, and facilitating creator funds.

Shermaine Wong, Cult Inventive’s co-founder and CEO, informed Vulcan Put up that the funding can be a catalyst for the event of the startup’s new proprietary creator collaboration platform.

Particularly, they’ve allotted assets to give attention to know-how enhancement, consumer expertise optimisation, and scalability. They’ll even be investing in community-building initiatives to empower creators and types.

“The choice to pursue funding for Cult Inventive wasn’t one we took frivolously,” Shermaine added. “After overcoming varied challenges and displaying important traction out there, we recognised the immense potential of our new mannequin.”

Vital wins embrace touchdown model offers with notable firms together with Farm Recent, Bata Malaysia, and Pavilion Group.

“It was clear that extra capital would fast-track our creator collaboration platform’s improvement and equip us with the assets to make an even bigger splash within the creator economic system,” the CEO defined.

In accordance with the press launch, this funding follows a interval of not simply strategic evolution, but in addition overcoming the challenges of the premature passing of Cult Inventive’s co-founder Manisha Jagan Mongan in March 2023.

Cult Inventive co-founders Shermaine Wong and Lina Esa / Picture Credit score: Cult Inventive

Recent funds for recent concepts

In November 2023, it was introduced that Cult Inventive could be shutting down its job portal app.

This was due to the corporate’s pivot from only a job portal to changing into a extra holistic platform that bridges manufacturers and creators. The previous app had been fairly restricted when it comes to its know-how, so a brand new platform wanted to be constructed.

As talked about, the recent funds from The Hive Southeast Asia can be used to construct this new platform.

“We’re making nice strides in creating the platform and are on observe to unveil the beta model to the general public throughout the subsequent six months,” Shermaine assured.

On prime of constructing a brand new platform, the press launch additionally revealed a brand new mission by the identify of CultPay.

CultPay can be an alternate credit score scoring system designed to empower creators to achieve monetary freedom.

Shermaine defined, “Our long-term imaginative and prescient is to supply gig staff with a dependable credit score scoring mechanism and get recognised by conventional monetary establishments to allow them to simply get housing, automotive loans, and bank cards, and even increase their artistic companies.”

CultPay remains to be in its nascent phases, so specifics of it are stored beneath wraps. That mentioned, Shermaine expressed that the group is on the lookout for monetary companions to construct a system that considers a creator’s efficiency, reliability, and contribution to the Cult Inventive creator group.

The group is aiming to roll out the characteristic throughout the subsequent 12 months.

Two years within the plans

Whereas studying success tales of startups securing investments, it might be straightforward to neglect that behind each fundraising is years and years of labor.

Shermaine shared that it took them two years to safe a “sure”, and that every dialog she had performed a task as a stepping stone within the firm’s journey.

“We’ve been monitoring Cult Inventive for the previous two years, and through this time, the group has constantly demonstrated exceptional resilience and adaptableness,” mentioned Dato Syed Haizam Jamalullail, the managing associate at The Hive Southeast Asia.

The Hive Southeast Asia is a VC fund backed by Palo Alto-based enterprise capital agency The Hive, Tuas Capital Companions, and Sunway.

Apart from Cult Inventive’s resilience, the managing associate additionally identified that the corporate’s affect extends past enterprise metrics, because it contributes to social affect and job creation.

This occurs to be in keeping with the target of the mandate that The Hive Southeast Asia has been given beneath Penjana Kapital’s Dana Penjana Nasional Program.

“I counsel entrepreneurs to be unequivocal about their firm’s mission, values, and development technique,” Shermaine shared. “Search buyers who provide extra than simply capital—those that deliver strategic worth via mentorship and community connections.”