1337 Ventures
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Bikesh Lakhmichand is the real deal — a no-bullshit ecosystem builder who's been grinding in Malaysia for over a decade when most VCs wouldn't even look at SEA. "We would give them a 0% loan that they can later pay back or convert it to equity." That's the kind of founder-friendly move that builds loyalty. The most recent acquisition were ParkEasy in Jun 2022 by Shell. Overall, 1337 Ventures portfolio has seen 2 acquisitions, namely Coins.ph and ParkEasy. Two solid exits including a Shell acquisition shows they can actually help companies get bought, not just funded. "Bikesh brings that radical honesty coupled with humility" and "has that acuity in seeing potential early combined with his energy to focus on doing things that are hard and not just easy." The Alpha Startups accelerator is a genuine pre-investment filter, not just marketing fluff — about 60% of its graduates have gone on to raise follow-on funding. These aren't Silicon Valley check-writers; they're operators who get their hands dirty.
- —Best for: Malaysian/SEA founders who want hands-on support and real operator experience
- —Watch out for: Fund size limitations - they're not writing massive checks
- —Known for: Actually helping startups get acquired, not just funded and forgotten
1337 Ventures is a Malaysia-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups — discovering, funding, and launching bold founders with scalable ideas. We support startups through every growth phase, from idea to product-market fit and beyond. Through our flagship Alpha Startups™ pre-accelerator, held quarterly, we help founders deeply understand their customers, validate their market, and accelerate traction — all while preparing them for investment.
1337 Ventures primarily invests in Seed and Series A stages. Top sectors in 1337 Ventures' portfolio are Enterprise Applications (11 investments) and Consumer (12 investments) with additional focus on agritech, health tech, social enterprise, and insurtech sectors. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Consumer and FinTech.
Lakhmichand is the Founder and CEO at 1337 Ventures. The Kuala Lumpur-based Bikesh, who celebrates 10 years as the founder of 1337 Ventures, has earned that praise. Just his pre-accelerator, Alpha Startups, that kicked off in May 2014, recently crossed 52 cohorts with over 1,800 startups comprising 4,500 founders going through a program focused on giving early founders a crash course in the fundamentals of building a startup. "All roads lead through, Bikesh," said a startup founder, only half joking when the no-nonsense, say-it-as-it-is Malaysian ecosystem builder, Bikesh Lakhmichand's name came up in a conversation recently.
Suresh Thiru General Partner, 1337 Capital Fund 1 and These include investors like Suresh Thiru (2 companies). Limited background information publicly available, but appears to be a co-investor with the fund frequently and runs one of their dedicated investment vehicles.
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