KUALA LUMPUR: Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd has raised another RM52 million for its co-investment fund through the inclusion of six new partners in its equity co-investment circle.
The partners include Marna Capital Sdn Bhd, Nexea Angels, 1337 Ventures Sdn Bhd, IV Gagasan Sdn Bhd, IMJ Investment Partners Pte Ltd and N Capital Partners Sdn Bhd.
Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan said the new partners collectively brought in RM26 million and with the company’s matching contribution of another RM26 million, the co-investment fund is now worth RM159.2 million.
Nazrin said each co-investment partner would fund up to RM500,000 for Malaysian technology start-ups of high calibre.
He told reporters this after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Cradle Fund and the six equity co-investment partners here today.
Nazrin said the latest inclusion of partners would bring the total number to 20 from 14 earlier.
Prior to the announcement on the new partners, he said RM107.2 million was raised from the previous four rounds of Cradle Fund’s co-investment partnership.
Meanwhile, Cradle Fund’s chief investment officer Juliana Jan said the group had set a target of 15 co-investment partners for this year.
“We aim to close nine more co-investment deals this year,” she added.
The co-investment programme is one of the Cradle Fund’s efforts at supporting the government in reducing the dependence of government-linked agencies on government funding and encourage more private investments into funding local technology start-ups.--BERNAMA