Kejora, Sunway launch $25m Malaysia VC fund

Mavcap, a wing of Malaysia’s Ministry of Science, is the anchor LP. The fund, known as Orbit Malaysia, is billed as a Series A-stage vehicle that will invest in technology start-ups targeting retail, education, healthcare, financial services, and agriculture.

Although Malaysia is the focus, there will be significant scope for investment across Southeast Asia. There is also a strategic angle referred to as “Jakarta Express,” which aims to help Malaysian start-ups and investors capitalize on Indonesia's growth via Kejora’s ecosystem. Sunway’s business interests in property, healthcare, education, retail, and digital will also support the portfolio.

Orbit Malaysia will be led by Raymond Hor (pictured far left), a partner of Kejora and an advisor to Sun Sea Capital, Sunway’s corporate VC unit.

“Orbit Malaysia is an alliance set up in the spirit of collaboration to leverage on the combined resources not just to help start-ups, but also as a platform for more private corporations to participate in VC investment,” Hor said in a statement. “We look forward to working together with more corporates to enrich Malaysia’s funding ecosystem.”

It comes two weeks after Malaysian government investor Venture Tech teamed up with SBI Ventures Malaysia in a similar public-private partnership. That vehicle is targeting MYR75 million ($18 million) for co-investments in local companies exclusively.

Last year, Kejora also announced a joint venture with SBI Holdings called Orbit, which planned to invest $30 million in early-stage companies in Indonesia.

“Malaysia is home to a fast-growing and vibrant start-up ecosystem, and there is great potential for Malaysian companies to become Southeast Asia’s next unicorn,” Hor added. “With a proven track record in the region and combined cross-border ecosystem, we are confident of replicating our success to empower Malaysian companies to scale rapidly throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.”

Sunway is an active player in start-up development, having launched programs such as Sunway iLabs Super Accelerator and Sunway Ventures in addition to Sun Sea. It launched a $50 million fund for Sun Sea in 2018 with a view to writing checks of $1-3 million in start-ups across various technology segments regionally.

Kejora has about $600 million in assets under management with 38 portfolio companies. The VC firm, which claims to have realized four unicorn exits, is an investor in Indonesia’s FinAccel, a credit platform that has agreed a $2 billion merger with a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• Kejora Ventures
• corporate venture capital