Khazanah Nasional Bhd and its subsidiary, Jelawang Capital, have selected five venture capital (VC) firms for the Emerging Fund Managers’ Programme (EMP) and the Regional Fund Managers’ Initiative (RMI).

The announcement was made by Senator Amir Hamzah Azizan, Malaysia’s Minister of Finance II.

This comes as Bryan Lim, Jelawang Capital’s CEO and board member, said he was stepping down before the announcement was made.

Launched in October 2024, the EMP and RMI aim to enhance Malaysia’s venture capital ecosystem by supporting local and regional fund managers.

The EMP assists Malaysian fund managers in raising initial funds. Meanwhile, the RMI focuses on regional and global managers to improve Malaysia’s startup ecosystem.

Three Malaysian firms were chosen under the EMP, such as Vynn Capital, Kairous Capital, and First Move. Meanwhile, AppWorks and Granite Asia were chosen under the RMI to bring regional expertise.

For the EMP, applicants are required to raise a minimum of RM60 million (US$12.7 million), with at least 20% of that amount secured as a base condition for eligibility.

However, it remains unclear whether the selected EMP firms have met this funding condition, as neither the event speeches nor Khazanah’s media release addressed this detail.

This selection aligns with the Malaysian Venture Capital Roadmap 2024–2030. It aims to position Malaysia as a regional venture capital hub by 2030.

🔗 Source: Digital News Asia

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Addressing systemic risk aversion in Malaysia’s venture capital landscape

This initiative directly responds to long-standing structural issues that have hampered Malaysia’s VC ecosystem for years.

In 2018, Malaysia’s venture capital industry faced criticism for excessive risk aversion, with only RM418 million invested from RM3.3 billion available for investment, creating a funding gap particularly at the Series A level (RM1-5 million)1.

The problem stemmed largely from government-funded VC structures that functioned more like loans than investments, lacking standard VC incentives like carried interest that motivate high-risk, high-reward investments1.

This historical risk aversion forced promising Malaysian startups like Grab to seek foreign funding, highlighting the disconnect between available capital and actual investment1.