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Started by an all women founding team, PurelyB wants to help educated and motivate people seeking a healthy lifestyle

PurelyB Founder and CEO Jesrina Arshad

PurelyB, a Malaysian-based healthy living marketplace announced today it raised a US$500,000 (over RM2.1 million) seed round led by 500 Startups.

Brunsfield Ventures Sdn. Bhd. and an unnamed angel investor also contributed to the round.

“People in Asia are becoming increasingly health conscious, but it’s extremely difficult for them to find local healthy options or even know how to get started. Everything is just too fragmented!” said Founder and CEO Jesrina Arshad in an official statement.

“We recognized the need for having this central solution,” she added.

Bootstrapped until now, the company plans on using the funds to solidify technology, strengthen service in the core markets of Singapore and Malaysia and look into international expansion.

Created in May, the founding team is eight women who explicitly want to “defy the norm and battle the gender gap in Asian tech startups”. PurelyB has now grown beyond the original eight founders with 15 employees listed on the website.

Also Read: 500 Startups, Cradle Seed invest in Malaysian startup Involve Asia

Available in both English and Chinese languages, the PurelyB marketplace hopes to be the go-to spot for people who want to get healthy but need a support system (whether that be through education or motivation).

For example, the marketplace sells a 21-day diet kick-start diet programme for RM 179.95 (US$42) with recipes, a workout video and access to a forum. For RM 899.95 (US$210) a user can get the same deal but with a dinner/lunch delivery service.

There is also a local directory section for healthy grocery stores and restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia — but as of now the listings are sparse.

PurelyB is selling gifts for the holiday season and the platform has an editorial feature with cooking recipes, life-coaching advice and exercise tips.

“[There is] nothing more exciting than adding rocket fuel to what is already an unstoppable train,” said Khailee Ng, Managing Partner of 500 Startups in an official statement. “Jesrina’s team has achieved so much on their own, [we] can not wait to see what they will achieve with an additional US$500,000,” he added.

Also Read: Malaysia’s Supahands raises seed round from Axiata, 500 Startups

Purely B was one of 20 startups selected by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) to participate in the agency’s e@Stanford two-week Silicon Valley immersion program. It also made the Red Herring list of top-100 startups in Asia for 2015.

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