As we usher into the new year, we sought insights from prominent figures across the Southeast Asian tech landscape. These leaders reflected on their triumphs in 2025, sharing valuable perspectives on their achievements and the challenges they overcame.
They also unveiled their ambitious aspirations, meticulously outlined their strategic plans for 2026, and offered insightful predictions on the trajectory of the tech industry in the new year.
We talked to Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, Group Chief Executive Officer at Cradle Fund, to learn more about the entity’s achievements in 2025 and its plans and aspirations for 2026. He also shared his views on the outlook of tech ecosystem in Malaysia and Southeast Asia for 2026.
Cradle Fund Sdn. Bhd. (Cradle), a focal point agency for Malaysia’s early-stage startup, incorporated under the Ministry of Finance Malaysia (MOF) in 2003 with a mandate to fund potential and high-calibre tech startups through its Cradle Investment Program (CIP). Cradle is presently administered by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).
Throughout its history, Cradle has helped fund over 1,000 Malaysian tech startups and holds the highest commercialization rate amongst government grants in the country. Having more than a decade of experience in the nation’s grant funding scene, Cradle further expanded its role from grant provider to investor through the establishment of its venture arm, Cradle Seed Ventures in 2015 and following its portfolio expansion to equity investment in early 2017, Cradle offered both funding and investment assistance.
How was Cradle Fund’s 2025?
2025 marked a defining inflection point for Malaysia’s startup ecosystem. At Cradle, we deliberately moved beyond program execution to system transformation by strengthening the full innovation pipeline from ideation and prototyping under CIP Spark, to commercialization through CIP Sprint, while embedding structured corporate–startup collaboration via Bengkel Inovasi GLC (BIG) as a national innovation lever. This integrated approach has reinforced founder readiness, accelerated market entry, and strengthened confidence across the ecosystem.
Our national innovation backbone also reached a new level of maturity. The MYStartup Single Window platform surpassed 5,000 registered startups, while the launch of Startup ASEAN under the ASEAN Startup Initiative during the Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2025, now connects more than 10,000 startups and 2,000 investors across the region. This positions ASEAN as a more seamless and investible innovation region. Through Cradle LIVE! Startup ASEAN Summit and expanded capacity-building programs, we elevated regional exposure and global ambition among Malaysian founders. Most notably, Kuala Lumpur, for the first time, has achieved its highest level of global recognition as the 18th emerging startup ecosystem in the world by Startup Genome.
What’s your expectation/aspirations for 2026?
In 2026, the focus is on scaling up with precision as we move from momentum to scaling. As we continue to grow Phase 2 of the Malaysia Startup Ecosystem Roadmap (SUPER) 2021 – 2030, the focus is on how to further intervene in the most critical early stages of the tech startup ecosystem from pre-startup to pre-VC, where the impact is most significant.
We will strengthen the funding continuum, expand structured capability building, and work closely with universities and ecosystem partners to accelerate IP commercialization. At the same time, we will further scale corporate innovation through The BIG Program with both Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) and Private-Linked Companies (PLCs), accelerating technology deployment and real economic outcomes.
Our ambition is clear! We aim to deliver a whole and end-to-end innovation value chain with the goal of producing and delivering globally investible, class-leaders in startups, and delivering innovation into sustainable economic growth, benefiting both Malaysia and the ASEAN region.
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