Malaysia’s state-owned fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and its subsidiary Jelawang Capital announced Tuesday the selection of the first five venture capital (VC) firms under its Emerging Fund Managers’ Program (EMP) and Regional Fund Managers’ Initiative (RMI).

Khazanah said in a statement that this milestone announcement comes on the heels of the EMP and RMI launch in October 2024, underscoring the fund’s unwavering commitment to nurturing local VC fund managers and cultivating a vibrant venture capital ecosystem in Malaysia.

“Aligning with the objectives of Ekonomi MADANI, the commitment into these fund managers marks a pivotal step towards catalysing our venture capital ecosystem.

“This announcement together with the recent progress of Kuala Lumpur entering the Top 20 Emerging Startup Ecosystems globally, is an encouraging step and testament to what coordinated ambitions can begin to unlock,” said the Minister of Finance II Amir Hamzah Azizan.

Out of the first five, three firms were selected under the EMP, a program 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.

The EMP recipients are:
· 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 and supply chain sectors across seed to Series A investment stages with a focus on the Southeast Asia region.
· Kairous Capital – a venture capital firm with roots in private equity that invests in technology, positioned as a cross-border specialist, supports Malaysian startups in scaling into key Southeast Asian markets, including Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Kairous Capital facilitates regional growth for high-potential companies and the transfer of innovation and know-how from technologically advanced countries like China.
· First Move – a founder-led venture capital 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.
First Move often serves as the first institutional partner, providing hands-on support from day one.

Meanwhile, two regional firms were selected as partners under the RMI, an initiative aimed to attract regional / global fund managers who are committed to enriching the local startup ecosystem, through supporting the growth of Malaysian startups to be regional and global players, facilitating the re-domiciliation of global companies in Malaysia to expand local job capabilities, and attract quality talent in the Malaysian ecosystem.

The new RMI partners are:
· AppWorks – 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 startups – and has a top-quartile distributions to paid-in capital (DPI) track record.
The firm’s 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 startups.
· Granite Asia – 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 initial public offerings (IPOs) globally.
The firm, through its early-stage fund, will back transformative startups across Asia in sectors like consumer tech, enterprise software, healthcare, advanced manufacturing and automation.
Granite Asia will collaborate with Khazanah and Jelawang Capital to provide Malaysian founders access to ecosystem programs that offer strategic insights, connections to Granite Asia’s extensive network of top founders and industry stakeholders, and curated programs for entrepreneurs aiming to help Malaysian startups to scale beyond the local market into the region and globally.

“Through Dana Impak and Jelawang Capital, we act as both catalyst and connector — bringing together funders, founders, and institutions to strengthen a venture ecosystem that supports firms from nimble start-ups to mid-sized enterprises and established corporates,

“Our focus is not just on capital, but on crowding in participants to build an ecosystem where innovation can thrive — enhancing Malaysia’s economic competitiveness and resilience,” Khazanah Managing Director Dato’ Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said.

The 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.

“We began with a systems-driven approach to ecosystem building and, via the EMP and RMI, we are excited to support the next generation of Malaysian fund managers and deepen the pool of quality founders,” Jelawang Capital Chairman Datuk Hisham Hamdan added.

“In that respect, we are proud to work with this group of high caliber fund managers, while further crowding-in capital, talent, expertise and capabilities into this ecosystem,

“In shoring up this ecosystem, we look forward to working with like-minded partners and investors,” he said.

Overall, the selection of these partners under the EMP and RMI are in line with strategic approaches under the Malaysian Venture Capital Roadmap 2024 – 2030 to transform Malaysia into a preferred regional VC hub by 2030.

The first group of appointees marks a milestone in the broader RM1 billion committed under the Ekonomi MADANI framework to support high-growth entrepreneurs and crowd-in institutional capital in early-stage fundraising.

Photo credits: Finance Minister’s Linkedin page

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