Will championing Malaysian startups bear fruit for VCs?

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Hi readers,

Malaysia is an enigma. The country has the ingredients to be a regional power: a large multilingual workforce, relatively cheap living costs, and good infrastructure, including two well-connected airports, i.e., Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

Yet the country has an image problem. Corruption is rampant – and it’s not just the 1MDB scandal. Government involvement in the private sector is heavy. Even the startup/tech space isn’t exempted. Government VCs are among the largest institutional investors in the startup space.

All this to say that there are systemic problems weighing the nation down. That hasn’t deterred some from trying to not only seek fortunes in a wild place like Malaysia but also to boost its startup ecosystem.

It’s an arduous journey. When I interviewed Kevin Brockland, the managing partner of Kuala Lumpur-based Indelible Ventures, I got the sense that championing Malaysian startups would be a tall order. Yet there are some – like Brockland – who believe it’s a worthwhile cause.

Sure, there’s money to be made. In fact, Malaysia is a good sandbox with its 33 million-strong population and 13 states and three federal territories, making it a better starting point than Singapore for companies in the region in many respects.

But one wonders whether the time and effort invested in jumpstarting the Malaysian startup space is worth it? I’m Malaysian and therefore skeptical as to whether the country will get its act together. But I’m always willing to be proven wrong.

— Emmanuel Samarathisa, journalist at Tech in Asia

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