Khazanah Selects Firms to Expand Malaysia’s VC Ecosystem

Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and its subsidiary, Jelawang Capital, have selected the first five venture capital (VC) firms under its Emerging Fund Managers’ Programme (EMP) and Regional Fund Managers’ Initiative (RMI).

The announcement was made at an event, which was graced by the presence of Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan and others.

It also came on the heels of the EMP and RMI launch in October 2024, underscoring Khazanah’s unwavering commitment to nurturing local VC fund managers and cultivating a vibrant venture capital ecosystem in Malaysia.

Speaking on the occasion, Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said that aligning with the objectives of Ekonomi MADANI, the commitment into these fund managers marks a pivotal step towards catalysing the country’s VC ecosystem.

This announcement together with the recent progress of Kuala Lumpur entering the Top 20 Emerging Start-up Ecosystems globally, is an encouraging step and testament to what coordinated ambitions can begin to unlock, he added.

Of the first five firms, three were selected under the EMP, a programme structured to support Malaysian fund managers in raising their first, second, or third fund with the goal of creating regionally competitive VC fund managers by strengthening fund governance, building track record and crowding in capital.

These five VC firms were selected through a rigorous evaluation process focused on the funds’ investment thesis, strength of core team, governance and alignment with strategic national development priorities.

Five Firms

The EMP recipients are Vynn Capital, Kairous Capital, and First Move, while the remaining two VC firms – App Work and Granite Asia – were selected as partners under RMI.

Vynn Capital, a homegrown sector-focused Malaysian venture capital firm that was established as a Malaysian response to the evolving regional innovation landscape. The firm will focus on the mobility & supply chain sectors across seed to Series A investment stages with a focus on the Southeast Asia region.

Kairous Capital, a VC firm with roots in private equity that invests in technology, positioned as a cross-border specialist, which supports Malaysian start-ups in scaling into key Southeast Asian markets, including Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. It also facilitates regional growth for high-potential companies and the transfer of innovation and know-how from technologically advanced countries like China.

First Move is a founder-led VC firm backing pre-seed stage across Southeast Asia. Built by experienced operators, the firm partners with second-time founders and domain experts, not only as early investors, but increasingly as co-builders, to help transform bold ideas into scalable businesses.

AppWorks is an early-stage VC from Taiwan that fuses an equity-free accelerator with founder-first capital to scale Greater Southeast Asia’s tech start-ups – and has a top-quartile distributions to paid-in capital (DPI) track record.

AppWorks’ investment mandate is in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital economy in Southeast Asia. AppWorks will be rolling out Malaysia-focused cohorts for Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 respectively, backed by in-market experts, capital, and a regional founder network to accelerate growth of Malaysia start-ups.

Granite Asia is a leading multi-stage investor focused on transformative opportunities across Asia, with a track record of building over 115 unicorns and achieving 61 IPOs globally. Granite Asia’s through its early-stage fund, will back transformative start-ups across Asia in sectors like consumer tech, enterprise software, healthcare, advanced manufacturing and automation.