How these two tech startups came together to raise M’sia as a leader in the regional AI scene

[This is a sponsored article with Cyberview.]

Early this year, startup tech companies Mesolitica and Lekir Tech signed a Memorandum of Understanding, kickstarting a collaboration that hopes to bolster the local AI scene, and advancing Malaysia’s tech ambition of becoming a leading innovation-driven economy by 2030.

Since then, with Mesolitica pioneering the localisation of AI language models and Cyberjaya-based Lekir Tech creating “AI Agents” (AI-powered systems designed to handle repetitive tasks), the duo of companies has made great strides through this collaboration.

From “developing AI Agents as an ultimate customer service assistant,” to “building a Malaysian Language AI Agent Centric system that works across industries,” the companies are striving to “create something that not only understands but excels in serving Malaysians in our unique languages and dialects,” said Azizul Othman, co-founder and CEO of Lekir Tech in a Facebook post.

Dictionary time: AI agents are software systems that use AI to pursue goals and complete tasks on behalf of users. They show reasoning, planning, and memory and have a level of autonomy to make decisions, learn, and adapt.

But who was it that played matchmaker?

Enter Cyberview

Since their beginnings as the landowner of Cyberjaya, Cyberview has gone on to develop the city as a tech ecosystem for creators and innovators, before being given the mandate by the government to become a Tech Hub Developer in 2019.

An effort to grow this ecosystem included launching the Cyberview Living Lab® Accelerator programme (CLLA) in 2013, with the aim of providing tech entrepreneurs with support in the areas of human capital, funding, mentorship, infrastructure, as well as market access. 

As of 2025, CLLA has nurtured 129 startups, raised over RM264 million in investments, generated over RM837 million in revenue, and created more than 1,500 jobs. 

Back in 2023, CLLA brought together eight startups, offering them a five-month programme that supported the development, piloting, and commercialising of their products and solutions. The goal being to accelerate these companies into achieving a product-market-fit.

Through the programme, two of these companies discovered that they held a natural synergy, and went on to elevate Malaysia’s AI capabilities together.

Teaching machines to understand Malay

That was the inspiration that kickstarted Mesolitica’s journey in October 2018.

And so, with a RM50,000 investment from WatchTower & Friends and equity crowdfunding, along with bootstrapping with sponsorships from NVIDIA, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for cloud infrastructure, Mesolitica was born with the vision of building an AI language for Malaysia.

Today, their flagship offering is MaLLaM (Malaysia Large Language Model), a language model enabled by the democratisation of core AI technologies via the open-source community.

Through this, Mesolitica has released over 900 language models since its inception, and they’re continuing to enhance MaLLaM’s linguistic capabilities across all Malaysian languages, be it national, dialectal, ethnic, or colloquial through collaborations with private data holders and governmental bodies.

“Mesolitica’s affiliation with the Cyberview brand has provided us with enhanced credibility, thereby facilitating more confident engagement with governmental bodies, particularly those located in Putrajaya.”

“Being CLLA alumni enhances our standing within the local startup ecosystem and facilitates meaningful collaborations,” said Khalil Nooh, the CEO and co-founder of Mesolitica.

Indeed, the programme has raised the company greatly, allowing for close engagements with NVIDIA in early 2023 and AWS in mid-2024.

And of course, their collaboration with Lekir Tech.

Making AI accessible

“Lekir Tech was founded with a mission to democratise AI for businesses of all sizes, especially SMEs. Our journey began with a vision: to develop AI Agent Digital Workers that go beyond automation and truly collaborate with humans,” said founders Azizul and Al Khan Abdul Gani.

With an initial seed capital of approximately RM250,000, primarily through internal founder funds and early revenue from consultancy services, Lekir Tech aimed to satisfy the need for AI-powered digital workers capable of handling repetitive tasks across different departments. This includes data reconciliation, reporting, customer support, and compliance checks.

“Unlike traditional automation tools or simple chatbots, our platform Assistnify brings together multiple AI agents that can actually communicate with each other, understand complex workflows, learn from your data, be integrated into your legacy system, and work alongside your team in real time.”

It’s like hiring a digital team that never sleeps and never gets tired.

Although this idea may sound appealing to many business owners, Lekir Tech’s founders added that they still faced challenges in convincing traditional businesses to rely on AI for their day-to-day operations.

Through CLLA, Lekir Tech was able to further build their flagship offering, strengthening their AI agent platform architecture and accelerating product-market fit validation.

“CLLA was a game-changer for Lekir Tech. It gave us access to mentorship, funding opportunities, and most importantly, strategic introductions within the industry. We gained valuable market insights and built key partnerships, such as the one with Mesolitica, that helped us move to market faster.”

Now, about six years in the game, the co-founders shared that Lekir Tech generates a healthy annual revenue, with a month-over-month growth of around 12-15%. It’s largely driven by recurring Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscriptions and AI agent project deployments.

And they’re not stopping here.

Keeping the pace, hand-in-hand

Looking forward, the duo of companies have big dreams in not just uplifting the AI scene in Malaysia, but also setting up the country as a leader in the regional AI industry by 2030, as planned in the National AI roadmap.

According to the digital ministry, AI is projected to contribute approximately US$115 billion (RM530 billion) to Malaysia’s economy in five years; so it’s no wonder that initiatives like the Strategic Investment Fund and the National Start-up Single Window platform were created to support the local AI ecosystem. 

“We are creating a supportive ecosystem for innovation, connecting research institutions, universities and the private sector to accelerate the development of AI technologies,” said Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Minister Chang Lih Kang to The Malaysian Reserve.

Indeed, Mesolitica and Lekir Tech’s stories are a reminder of the fruit that can be borne through meaningful partnerships, and they serve as a testament to the CLLA initiative and MOSTI’s commitment..

“CLLA has allowed innovators to leverage the infrastructure and facilities offered throughout the city as a testbed for their innovations—a real-world environment for piloting emerging technologies for Cyberjaya,” said Shafinaz Salim, Head of Technology Hub Development, Cyberview. 

And they’re continuing to do so with their latest series of it, the Cyberview Living Lab® Accelerator Cohort 20.

Featured Image Credit: Lekir Tech