‘Govt support can catalyse startup ecosystem growth in Malaysia’
To help Malaysian startups go global, the Malaysian government and industry stakeholders are implementing numerous export promotion strategies and funding diversification initiatives.
Through targeted showcases of Malaysian capabilities in fintech, e-commerce, agritech and biotechnology, the Southeast Asian nation aims to captivate global interest and investment, paving avenues for market expansion and prosperity. Malaysia aims to create 5,000 startups by 2025 and 10,000 coders by 2030.
The Malaysia Single Window for the Startup Ecosystem (MYStartup) - a centralised platform aimed at bridging the gap between founders, investors, talents and government agencies within the startup ecosystem - was recently launched at the KL20 Summit. Held in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the summit saw the participation of startup founders, ministers, and investors.
"One distinguishing factor of Kuala Lumpur’s approach is the governmental recognition of the importance of building cross-border communities,” said Ben Prade, a partner at GP Bullhound, a technology advisory and investment firm.
“Through a series of strategic memorandum of understanding with various stakeholders, including sovereign wealth funds, venture capital firms, and technology companies, Malaysia is setting a global standard for how government support can catalyse ecosystem growth.
“These agreements span capital allocation into the startup ecosystem to the establishment of advanced technological research units, showcasing a national ambition unlike any other.”
He added that the KL20 Summit is about setting a precedent for how cities can leverage their unique strengths in partnership with government and the international capital to foster tech innovation.
“The Malaysian tech ecosystem’s overall value of US$46 billion is well above the global average, with costs substantially lower,” said Prade
“Such metrics illustrate Malaysia’s capacity for delivering substantial returns on investments, highlighted by the US$41 billion of exits, but also showcase the ecosystem’s readiness to scale heights comparable to well-established tech hubs.
“The government has recognised that to compound this success further, their KL20 initiative needs to focus on enhancing the earlier stage funding to take it from US$314 million closer to the global average of US$970 million,” he added.
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