The many cooks spoiling Malaysia's startup broth

With at least 60 government agencies aiming to assist startups, Malaysia's complex support system for local entrepreneurs is causing confusion and slowing the growth of the industry

Even the savviest businessperson would find it hard to navigate across Malaysia's startup support system

The two largest state-backed agencies—MaGIC and MDEC—have many overlapping roles

The Pakatan Harapan-led Malaysian government in 2019 had set up a task force to streamline the agencies

However, MaGIC and MDEC remain untouched and their lines continue to be blurred

It’s a confusing world if you are one of Malaysia’s estimated one million entrepreneurs. There are no fewer than 60 different government agencies that aim to assist budding (or existing) company-builders.

Each agency has different, yet similar—to a certain extent—objectives.

On financing alone, there’s Malaysia Venture Capital Management (MAVCAP), Cradle Fund and its venture arm Cradle Seed Ventures (CSV), the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV), VentureTECH, and Kumpulan Modal Perdana (KMP). Just to name a few.

So where exactly does one turn?

A founder of a local fintech startup, which had been rejected by two government agencies to attain pre-seed funding, described the process of getting in touch with these organisations as “crazy”.

AUTHOR

Ka Kay Lum

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Ka Kay covers investment activities, aka following the money, across Southeast Asia and in-depth stories on the often-overlooked Malaysian startup ecosystem. She was previously a regional writer for Nikkei-owned DealStreetAsia.

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