KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd is set to strengthen Malaysia's venture capital ecosystem with the launch of the Emerging Fund Managers' Programme (EMP) and the Regional Fund Managers' Initiative (RMI).
The initiatives are aimed at boosting local startups and attracting international investment, Khazanah Managing Director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said.
"With the launch of EMP, we aim to ensure the continued growth of our local venture capital (VC) fund managers, and we see the RMI as another critical step in our commitment to foster a dynamic VC ecosystem in Malaysia," he added.
The EMP is focused on empowering local VC fund managers to become regionally competitive, with the National Fund-of-Funds (NFOF) providing capital commitments to signal confidence to investors.
Meanwhile, the RMI will target international fund managers to invest in Malaysia, boost local startups and help grow the country's innovation-driven enterprises.
The initiatives follow Khazanah's acquisition of Malaysia Venture Capital Management (Mavcap) and Penjana Kapital in July, signalling a strategic push in the VC space.
Both initiatives will crowd in private capital, leading to benefiting Malaysia's startup ecosystem by creating opportunities for new and existing entrepreneurs.
They are also aligned with the Ekonomi Madani agenda, supporting national productivity and the growth of high-growth companies to 'raise the ceiling' in digital and innovation-led industries.
The establishment of the NFOF is aligned to Khazanah's Advancing Malaysia strategy, anchored by "A Nation that Creates" framework to boost national productivity and competitiveness.
These initiatives are also part of Khazanah's commitment under the Gear-uP programme that is led by the Finance Ministry in an effort to catalyse growth in key economic sectors by government-linked investment companies.