Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, through its fund-of-funds unit Jelawang Capital, has opened applications for funding the next cohort of new venture capital managers, under its Emerging Fund Managers’ Programme (EMP).
The scheme now invites managers to submit their proposals year-round, versus the limited application period previously. There is also a lower minimum fund size for pre-seed and seed strategies, and more flexibility during the application phase in relation to early fundraising progress.
General partners (GPs) raising their first, second, or third funds, with at least 30% shareholding held by a Malaysian key person, are invited to apply for the EMP.
According to the framework laid out by Jelawang Capital, the GPs will be assessed on their team dynamics and incentive framework, as well as their “ability to attract quality” limited partners, in addition to the firm’s investment strategy and thesis, their positioning and GP motivations; and operational setup and governance.
In a statement, Khazanah Managing Director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir noted that the scheme’s early progress, “including attracting more than 30 million ringgit from other capital providers beyond Jelawang’s commitments, and collectively deploying over 60 million ringgit across more than 10 early-stage companies, the majority of which are Malaysian startups.”
The early-stage GPs funded in the first EMP cohort were Vynn Capital, Kairous Capital, and First Move.
In addition to the EMP, Jelawang Capital is also allocating to larger regional GPs. Those funded in the first round were Taiwanese startup accelerator AppWorks and Singapore-headquartered Granite Asia.
The fund-of-funds programmes are part of Malaysia’s institution-led efforts to drive growth in the private capital ecosystem.
Apart from Khazanah, the public servant pension scheme KWAP is running three main initiatives. Dana Pemacu, a 6-billion-ringgit co-GP investment programme that pairs international fund managers with local players; Dana Perintis, through which it will allocate 500 million ringgit in domestic VCs and startups, through direct and fund investments; and, most recently, a 2-billion-ringgit allocation for climate-focused investments across PE, real estate, and infrastructure under Dana Iklim+.
Separately, state investor Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas), which is focused on private equity buyout and growth sectors, is launching a strategy aimed at ‘capacity-building’ at smaller local companies.
Jelawang Capital is seeded with a 1-billion-ringgit commitment from Khazanah. Meanwhile, a new CEO has yet to be appointed for the state-owned investor, following the departure of Bryan Lim in June last year.
