Business Today
ScaleUp Malaysia has announced that they have entered into an exclusive partnership with Quest Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm to invest and scale the regional growth of top Malaysian startups.
The partnership with Quest Ventures will bring in a Foreign Direct Investment deal worth US$1,000,000 (RM4,150,000) to develop and grow Malaysian startups. To qualify for the Cohort 2 program which was also launched today, scaleups must be operating on business models that have the propensity to disrupt existing markets or have solutions that are able to navigate future challenges and take advantage of opportunities brought about by the current economic climate.
24 companies shortlisted from the Cohort 2 applications will begin their accelerator journey in October 2020 before presenting their solutions in front of the Investment Committee at the end of the program. As part of the partnership, ScaleUp Malaysia Cohort 2 powered by Quest Ventures will invest at least USD$60,250 (RM250,000) in up to 12 of these companies.
According to James Tan, Managing Partner of Quest Ventures, “Beyond the traditional investment role of VCs, we see it as our tech ecosystem duty to drive a speedier adoption of the Digital Economy. Our partnership with ScaleUp Malaysia will enable us to support the top tech talent teeming in Malaysia and provide necessary and timely support to power their disruptive businesses to break into the post-pandemic emerging Asia markets.”
“In this second cohort, we want to empower solutions that tap into the buy-in of the digital economy and prime them through our rigorous syllabus designed to take local companies to the global stage. Our partnership with Quest Ventures will enable our scaleups to quantum leap their growth, access adjacent markets and unlock a wealth of economic possibilities through value creation, needed now more than ever with our collapsing global economy brought about by Covid-19,” said Dr V. Sivapalan, Senior Partner of ScaleUp Malaysia.
