COMPANY

We build RFID solutions for Brunei's businesses

Started by four people who entered a hackathon for the experience, and ended up building a company. Here's how we got here, and what we're focused on now.

The Upside team at iCentre, Anggerek Desa Technology Park
OUR STORY

Four engineers, one hackathon, and an unlikely start

Upside began as an entry into the Startup673 National Hackathon—four of us building for the experience without expecting where it would lead. After securing seed funding, that weekend prototype quickly evolved into a dedicated technology company.

Our core focus originated from an operational challenge posed by Brunei LNG: bringing real-time accuracy and visibility to manually tracked inventory. Today, that challenge drives our flagship solution—an RFID-based inventory management platform purpose-built for Brunei’s retail, manufacturing, and logistics sectors.

Backed by a background spanning banking, fintech, and product design, our team built Upside to combine deep industry knowledge with practical technology, solving a critical, underserved need across the local market.

HOW WE WORK

What we value

Local talent, applied directly

Our team's backgrounds are in banking, fintech, and product design — not RFID. We think that's an advantage: it means we build for how Brunei businesses actually operate, not just how the hardware is meant to be used.

Technology as the strategy

Manual stock takes and inefficient tracking aren't just inconvenient — they're a solvable problem. We treat the technology itself as the fix, not an add-on to an existing process.

One problem at a time

We'd rather solve a single part of your operation properly than roll out something broad and shallow. That step-by-step approach is slower, but it's what actually gets implemented and used.

OUR JOURNEY

So far

Startup673 National Hackathon

We entered for the experience

Four of us put together a proposal for an inventory tracking system using RFID — asset tagging, fixed and handheld readers, and location tracking — to answer a problem statement from Brunei LNG.

Selected for seed funding

The prototype became a company

We were selected as one of the teams to receive seed funding from the hackathon, which gave us the means to start building Upside properly.

National Youth Day 2024

Invited to showcase our solution

Brunei Innovation Lab (BIL) invited us to present our work at National Youth Day 2024 — a chance to show what an RFID-based system could do outside of the hackathon setting.

Today

Focused on getting this into real facilities

We're working directly with Brunei businesses in retail, manufacturing, and logistics to bring RFID inventory management from pilot to everyday use.

IN THE MEDIA

See it in action

Upside's humble beginning from Startup673 National Hackathon.
Taken from: Biz Brunei Instagram

Upside was invited by Brunei Innovation Lab (BIL) to showcase our solution at National Youth Day 2024.
Taken from: Biz Brunei Instagram

Want to see what this looks like for your business?

Tell us about your operation and we'll put together a plan — no technical knowledge needed on your end.