MVCA's ‘Startup Support Squad’ to provide advisory support in Malaysia

• More conversations needed between government and SMEs for better policies
• Advisory input on business ops & sustenance; as well as financing & fundraising

[Ed: The main pic was changed as the earlier one depicted a VC that is not a member of the MVCA.]

Four venture capital firms, Vynn Capital, Cradle Seed Ventures, Kejora Ventures Malaysia as well as RHL Ventures, who have invested significantly in Malaysia, have been called upon by the Malaysia Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (MVCA) to provide support to entrepreneurs and companies who have business operations in Malaysia, in light of the disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MVCA, as an industry platform to support venture and private equity investments in the region, launched the initiative to provide support to startups and entrepreneurs who are currently struggling.

The initiative, known as the “Startup Support Squad” will see the four venture capital firms, represented by key investment team members, supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs by providing advisory input on matters with regards to business operations and sustenance; as well as areas around financing and fundraising. The objective of the initiative is to help more young budding companies in Malaysia to get through the difficult business climate that the world is currently facing.

Drawing attention to the finding by the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) that shows only about 3% of startups are confident to weather through the current scenario, if the situation persists for more than 12 months, MVCA’s Chairman, Victor Chua (pic, right) who is also the Managing Partner of Vynn Capital commented: “The current support that is given to the SMEs and startups in Malaysia is not sufficient in helping our ecosystem through this difficult time.”

“Given that SMEs represent 98.5% of the business community in the country, we believe that the economy will be very badly affected if we do not take care of our entrepreneurs. The government is doing a great job in supporting Malaysians but there needs to be more actions in aiding businesses that are failing as the day counts,” Chua stresses.

He feels that better policies and more well-thought out strategies can be drawn up if there are enough conversations with the grassroots, as well as with the investing community. “As such, we would like to play our part in bolstering the industry, do what we can and hope for the best. We do look forward to work with the ministries on matters relating to supporting the entrepreneurial community in Malaysia,” he said.

The Malaysian entrepreneurial scene consists of both Malaysian and non-Malaysian entrepreneurs, local and regional investors, as well as funds that invest locally and abroad. As a result, the Malaysian ecosystem correlates highly to other markets and countries.

A global recession will mean that more SMEs and startups will not be able to survive the downswing. As such, MVCA hopes that by empowering investors who have an interest in Malaysia, it will also help bring more knowledge and value to local businesses and attract overseas opportunities into the country.

SMEs and startups can reach out to the Startup Support Squad by emailing [email protected]

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