UTM’s spin-off company selected to participate in a professional development program at Silicon Valley

Sabri Ahmad

JOHOR BAHRU, 26 August 2015 – DF Automation & Robotics Sdn. Bhd., a spin-off company from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), was among the 22 companies selected to participate in a professional development program at Silicon Valley and Stanford University initiated by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC).

Co-founders of the company, Dr. Yeong Che Fai from Faculty of Electrical Engineering said, the e@Stanford program was a two-week (10^th – 19^th August 2015) immersive innovation and entrepreneurship program where participants were coached by experienced professors and entrepreneurs at Stanford University, and visited start-up offices and venture firms in Silicon Valley.

Dr Yeong and Dr Eileen in classroom among 42 founders of 22 startup participating in MaGIC e@Stanford program.

“The main objective of the program was to help Malaysian start-ups to build network with potential mentors and investors, understand the Valley culture and to develop peer-to-peer support network with fellow entrepreneurs,” he said.

For this program, DF Automation & Robotics Sdn. Bhd. was represented by Dr. Yeong Che Fai and Dr. Eileen Su Lee Ming from Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Two other co-founders of the company, Tan Ping Hua and Ricky Yap were also UTM alumni. The current team of engineers are among the top graduates from UTM, who hold multiple national and international accolades.

Dr yeong said, the company was founded in 2012 to design and manufacture automated guided vehicle (AGV), mainly used to transfer loads in the manufacturing industry.

“The e@Stanford 2015 cohort visited Google, Facebook, AirBnB, Twillio and many start-ups that began humbly from the Silicon Valley and made it big with multiple rounds of investments or acquisitions. In addition, the participants visited venture firms and accelerators such as Khazanah, MDeC Americas, 500 Startups, Plug-and-Play, Boot.TV and BLK71 that provide services, funding and networking to help start-ups in the Valley.

“The success of DF Automation & Robotics in the technology sector in Malaysia is hoped to provide inspiration to the UTM undergraduates to venture into entrepreneurship in line with UTM’s tagline ‘Innovative. Entrepreneurial. Global’,” he explained.