I saved RM2mil by age 30, which I used to start Invoke, says Rafizi

PETALING JAYA: Rafizi Ramli says he managed to save over RM2mil by the age of 30 from his time working in PETRONAS, which he used to finance to start up Invoke.

"At the age of 26, my starting salary at PETRONAS was RM3,750. After six months, I was promoted to a manager and my salary rose to RM11,000 a month and a year later, I was promoted to head of the petrochemical planning division at the age of 27 which saw my salary soar to RM25,000 per month.

"PETRONAS then shortened the service period and retirement age from 60 years to 55 years for its employees, which resulted in me being paid RM400,000 compensation at the age of 29 for the shortened five years of service," he said during a press conference at the PKR headquarters here on Monday (Nov 7).

The Pandan seat candidate from Pakatan Harapan was answering critics who questioned his recent asset declaration, which showed a significant rise in the value of the company, Invoke.

He said that Invoke was RM4.7mil in the red last year due to the inclusion of losses suffered by its two smaller subsidiaries which Rafizi said could be sold off if needed.

However, he said that Invoke itself had been performing well since 2020 after it became a commercial company in 2019 which in turn increased the value of Invoke's shares, which Rafizi holds a significant stake in.

"Invoke itself recorded a profit of RM507,000 in 2020, which increased further to RM653,000 in 2021 and is estimated to record at least RM1.5mil in profits in 2022.

"This constant growth spurred a lot of interest from investors both local and overseas as over 90% of tech start-ups usually don't record profits in their first five years of operation.

"This resulted in the sudden spike in the value of Invoke's shares as more people were looking to invest.

"In fact, Invoke is now valued at RM105mil according to the valuation on the MYStartup platform done by Cradle, a government-run tech start-up funding programme," he said.

Rafizi also claimed that all of Invoke's financial statements had been fully reviewed and audited by The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) and the Customs Department.

Rafizi, who is also PKR deputy president, had declared his net assets totalling RM18.85mil last week, of which over RM16mil comprised his share of Invoke.

This drew criticism from PKR's opponents, including Bersatu supreme council member Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad who called on Rafizi to explain the spike in Invoke's value on Monday (Nov 7).