Startup Week Malaysia 2026 runs from 16 to 20 November at Asia School of Business (ASB), Kuala Lumpur. It is five days of talks and workshops on startups, AI and technology, Amanz reported on 10 November. Some sessions are free and the paid ones start at RM20.
The name puts owners off. Read the session list first, because most of it has nothing to do with raising money.
The official Startup Week Malaysia calendar on Luma, captured 10 November 2026. Source: Luma
What is on at Startup Week Malaysia 2026
Tech news site TNGlobal lists a theme for each day. The sessions and prices below are what the official Luma calendar listed on 10 November.
| Day | Theme | Sessions listed |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 16 Nov | AI Day | None listed yet |
| Tue 17 Nov | Startup School | Startup School Malaysia 2026, 9.30am, RM100 |
| Wed 18 Nov | Investor Day and Demo Day | "If AI does the junior work, how do we become seniors?", 2pm, free |
| Thu 19 Nov | Social Enterprise Day | "Marketing Campaigns That Work", 2pm, free on Luma, in person or online |
| Fri 20 Nov | Community Day | Cyberfortress panel, 11am, RM20. Workforce law talk, 11am, RM25 early bird, then RM40. Mini-hack, 1.30pm, free. AI in accounting panel, 2pm, free. Heart to Heart, 2pm, RM25. AI Summit by FirstCapital.vc, 3pm, free with approval |
So is Startup Week Malaysia 2026 free? Partly: five of the nine sessions are. Startup School is one of the main draws. Its page describes it this way:
"Startup School Malaysia is a full-day, hands-on program for founders. It runs on Day 2 of Startup Week Malaysia 2026 at Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur."
Which Startup Week Malaysia 2026 session fits a business owner
A free ticket still costs you half a day. So match the session to a problem you already have.
- If your accounts team is buried in manual work, the AI in accounting panel (Friday, 2pm, free) has speakers from Colibri Integration and Piofin, who do this work for a living.
- If the bank attacks made you nervous, the Cyberfortress panel (Friday, 11am, RM20) covers this year's attacks on Malaysian banks. We wrote about one in our Bank Rakyat hack breakdown.
- If your marketing budget is small, Suzanne Ling, co-founder of Picha Eats, runs the Thursday masterclass. You can join online. Luma lists it as free, but its poster mentions an RM50 commitment fee, so check when you register.
- If you hire fresh graduates, the Wednesday fireside asks where juniors get experience once AI does the small tasks.
The Wednesday one is where we would sit. We use AI tools to write software every day, and they are fast. But a tool can hand a junior a finished answer before they understand the problem, and someone still has to teach them to check it. We would rather hear that argued out than pitched.
Skip Startup School unless you are building a startup. It is built mainly for early-stage founders, and it takes the whole day.
Friday's sessions overlap, so pick one at 11am and one at 2pm. The FirstCapital.vc summit is closed-door, so registering does not guarantee a seat.
How to register for Startup Week Malaysia 2026
Registration is per session. Each one has its own page on the Luma calendar, so open the one you want and register there, free sessions included. Startup School says seats are limited.
Before you go, write down one question from your own business, such as "Which accounting task did you hand to AI first, and what do you still check by hand?" One answered question beats five talks.
At Gotchaa Lab, we build AI and automation systems for Malaysian businesses. If a session leaves you with an idea and you want a straight read on what it would take, tell us about it.
Session times and prices were read from the official calendar on 10 November 2026 and may change. Check the calendar before you travel.
