Malaysian deep-tech startup nanoSkunkWorkX has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Singapore-based Tin Men Capital, with the company planning to move its semiconductor technology into partner qualification and expand work in green hydrogen and diagnostics.
The round builds on earlier backing from Gobi Dana Impak and Malaysia’s Kumpulan Modal Perdana. Tin Men said the investment is its first in a Malaysian startup.
Targeting materials bottlenecks in advanced packaging
nanoSkunkWorkX, or nSWX, develops thin-film interfaces designed to improve how heat, electrical current and electronic signals move across material boundaries in advanced devices.
Its lead semiconductor product, nSD-I, is designed for copper interconnects used in advanced AI chip packaging. The startup says the interface can help copper carry more current and spread heat more effectively without replacing existing manufacturing equipment or the surrounding process.
The company cited peer-reviewed work showing that its graphene-copper films moved heat across their surface more than twice as effectively as a copper baseline. Follow-up testing, according to nSWX, found the material retained its performance advantage in pre-qualification test components.
The seed funding will support semiconductor partner qualification, scaling of the company’s interface-engineering process platform and additional validation work.
Founders returned to Malaysia to build the company
nSWX was co-founded by Dr. Amani Salim, a former NASA principal investigator, and Iqbal Shamsul, an MIT-trained computer scientist and former Morgan Stanley commodities vice president.
The company says it has developed three product lines, generated its first revenue and produced peer-reviewed semiconductor data with less than $1.5 million in cumulative external pre-seed capital.
Beyond semiconductors, nSWX is working on interfaces intended to improve charge transfer and reduce reliance on platinum-group metals in green hydrogen applications. Its diagnostics work includes a paid joint R&D program with the US Navy’s Naval Medical Research Unit Indo Pacific for biosensors.
Regional capital backs Malaysian frontier tech
Tin Men Capital managing partner Jeremy Tan said the firm has been spending more time in Malaysia’s technology ecosystem and described nSWX as a team combining technical depth with capital efficiency and senior-level customer engagement.
nSWX was selected for the inaugural SemiconStart Malaysia cohort led by MTDC with Silicon Catalyst UK. The company was also a finalist in the Baker Hughes Energy Ideas Generation Program APAC in 2025.
The startup’s immediate challenge is moving from promising materials results to qualification with semiconductor partners. That process will determine whether its interface technology can move into commercial manufacturing environments at scale.
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