Malaysia’s fintech and VC sectors are heating up

​Dan Lain-Lain (Malay for “and others”) is a weekly column by TIA journalist Emmanuel Samarathisa that dissects the goings-on in the Malaysia tech scene, but with a heavy mix of current affairs, policy and politics. Click here to read past articles.

And in a blink of an eye, we’re going into the third quarter of 2024. Time flies. But there’s some interesting moves happening in Malaysia that’s worth highlighting, despite the chaos making the headlines of local newspapers.

The Kuala Lumpur cityscape. /Photo credit: Shutterstock

Here are four tech trends that have been shaping up over the past six months:

Corporate VCs eye semiconductor-fueled hype

More corporate VCs are expected to throw their hats into the tech ring, but many of them will be eyeing the semiconductor space. There’s already one VC firm in this industry: Penang-based BlueChip VC.

This is a mysterious one, as BlueChip popped out of nowhere. But from what we can gather, it’s led by Lai Pin Yong, an 80-year-old former Intel engineer.

Lai comes with serious credentials as an engineer. But he doesn’t have VC experience.

He claims that BlueChip VC has a startup capital of 120 million ringgit (US$25 million) and was founded in 2023 in Penang.

BlueChip VC founder Lai Pin Yong / Photo credit: KL20

He told business publication The Edge in an interview earlier this year that the firm is aiming for an annual return of more than 20% from investments in semiconductor-related startups, with the aim of listing them on the Bursa Malaysia.

BlueChip has garnered the attention of the Malaysian government, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim roping Lai into the country’s semiconductor roadmap.

During the recent KL20 Summit, the government announced that BlueChip will be teaming up with sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional and civil servants’ pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) to jointly invest in a 3 billion ringgit (US$630 million) fund.

Some of Malaysia’s semiconductor giants are also priming themselves to invest in deeptech startups, especially those specializing in either semiconductor-related fields or AI. A number of them have already begun planning out accelerators, but these are confined to firms in Penang – a state located in the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia – for now.

Greater VC wave

Fintech heats up as digital banks go live

BNPL under watch