By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 10: The five-day builder residency Startup Village Borneo 2026 has recently concluded in Kuching, demonstrating Sarawak’s growing potential to attract international digital nomads, technology builders, and entrepreneurs.
Co-organised by SOCOE Sdn Bhd, Solana Foundation, and SuperTeam Malaysia, the event gathered over 100 participants from Malaysia and around the world, including Vietnam, Korea, India, Nepal, Singapore, the United States, and Europe.
Participants ranged in age, including young builders aged eight and 11, who learned how to design, test, and pitch technology solutions for real-world issues.
“For us, one of the most significant outcomes of Startup Village Borneo is seeing the direction of travel begin to change.
“Sarawak has traditionally been a place where people leave to find opportunities. This programme demonstrates that Sarawak can also be a place where talented people from around the world choose to come, build, collaborate and create,” SOCOE Sdn Bhd said in a press release.
Throughout the event, international founders worked alongside local innovators, developing products, conducting user research, and presenting their ideas on Demo Day supported by venture capital and Solana ecosystem mentors.
Two Sarawakian teams placed among the top five finalists: Verita, a Sarawak-rooted project developing a solution to address construction payment retention issues affecting Malaysian subcontractors; and Bario Seeker, a digital provenance initiative for authentic Bario Rice that links product information to verifiable origin records through QR-coded packaging.
International judges and investors highlighted the strength of the event and the local ecosystem.
“Sarawak is a unique place to host an event like this, and I’m excited for more tech-preneurs to get exposure to this part of the world,” said Jacob Ko, General Partner at Superscrypt.
Anatoly Kondiyakov, Founding and Managing Partner of No Limit Holdings, added that the energy in Kuching was exceptional and expressed conviction that Borneo’s startup ecosystem deserves greater attention from the global tech community.
SOCOE noted that the initiative aims to train the next generation of local design engineers and tech builders by connecting them directly with global collaborators, reinforcing Sarawak’s standing as an international destination for digital innovation. — DayakDaily
