For Clement Hii, SEGi UniVerse was never about the metaverse, it was about scale
- ID
- 23983
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 14 Sep 2026, 1:24 AM
- Fetched
- 14 Sep 2026, 9:44 AM
- Provider
- Digital News Asia
- Category
- malaysia-tech
- Original URL
- https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/business/clement-hii-segi-universe-was-never-about-metaverse-it-was-about-scale
- Source URL
- https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/rss.xml
Summary
- Score
- 4.5
- Created
- 14 Sep 2026, 9:44 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- saas_startup_foundersai_ml_learners
What happened
SEGi University launched SEGi UniVerse in March 2025, a multi-million-ringgit digital twin campus combining VR, AI, and immersive learning to enhance its open and distance learning (ODL) programmes. Group MD Clement Hii framed it not as a metaverse product but as a scalability play—using virtual UniHubs to enable asset-light internationalisation and improve student engagement in online learning. 18 months after launch, the platform has expanded into a network of UniHubs.
Why it matters
For Malaysian edtech or SaaS founders, this is a concrete example of using a digital twin + VR/AI platform to solve a distribution and engagement problem (ODL dropout and isolation) rather than chasing metaverse hype. The asset-light internationalisation via UniHubs is a model worth examining if you are building platforms that need to scale across markets without physical presence.
Discussion angle
Is a digital twin campus a genuinely scalable moat for Malaysian education providers going regional, or is it a high-cost differentiator that competitors can replicate with cheaper web-based tools?