Sunway Group, Kejora Capital launch fund

PETALING JAYA: Sunway Group, one of Malaysia’s largest conglomerates, and Kejora Capital a leading venture capital firm from Indonesia, has launched Orbit Malaysia – a US$25mil (RM104mil) fund.

The fund will also see participation from Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad (Mavcap) as anchor investor and will invest in early-stage startups in Malaysia and South-East Asia, the parties said in a statement yesterday.

The potential companies would be able to tap into Sunway’s various business divisions ranging from property, healthcare, education, retail, and digital as well as Kejora’s digital ecosystem.

“There is also a strategic angle of “Jakarta Express” to help Malaysian startups and investors capitalise on the high growth Indonesia market via Kejora,” the statement added.

Orbit Malaysia will be led by Raymond Hor who will be overseeing the fund as fund director.

“Malaysia is home to a fast-growing and vibrant startup ecosystem, and there is great potential for Malaysian companies to become South-East Asia’s next unicorn. With a proven track record in the region and combined cross-border ecosystem, we are confident of replicating our success to empower Malaysian companies to scale rapidly throughout South-East Asia and beyond,” said Hor.

According to Statista, private equity and venture capital firms invested more than US$5.9bil (RM24.6bil) in Malaysian startups between 2014 and 2020.

Meanwhile, Sunway Group chief innovation officer, Matthijs (Matt) van Leeuwen said Orbit Malaysia is an extension of the conglomerate’s unique innovation ecosystem and startup funding funnel.

“We share the same mission as Kejora Capital to invest in category-leading startups and at the same time, create real social and sustainable impact.

“With the backing from our anchored limited partner MAVCAP, both Sunway and Kejora Capital can definitely replicate such performance in Malaysia,” he said.

To date, Kejora Capital has over US$600mil (RM2.51bil) in assets under management with 38 portfolios across eight years of existence, birthing four unicorn exits, said Sunway.