Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has announced the completion of its acquisitions of Malaysia Venture Capital Management (MAVCAP) and Penjana Kapital.

These moves align with the objectives of the Malaysia MADANI Budget 2024, aiming to strengthen the country’s venture capital ecosystem and improve public institutions.

The acquisitions make MAVCAP and Penjana Kapital wholly owned subsidiaries of Khazanah.

Following this, Khazanah plans to establish a National Fund-of-Funds with an initial RM1 billion allocation to invest in innovative and high-growth startups through venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds.

This initiative supports Malaysia’s vision of becoming a preferred regional VC hub by 2030, as outlined in the Malaysia Venture Capital Roadmap 2024-2030 and the KL20 Action Paper.

Khazanah acknowledged the significant contributions and dedication of MAVCAP and Penjana Kapital to the venture capital ecosystem over the years.

The company said that it looks forward to leveraging the expertise and experience of these teams to further their shared vision of advancing Malaysia’s economic growth and innovation.

Dato’ Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, Managing Director of Khazanah said,

“By consolidating investment platforms across multiple investment agencies, Malaysia will be better positioned to ensure greater sustainability of funding, crowd-in private capital, attract regional VC firms into the country and catalyse strategically important sectors.

Furthermore, the establishment of a national fund-of-funds aligns with Khazanah’s Future Malaysia Programme, which aims to support the local startup ecosystem of entrepreneurs, startups, VC, and corporate venture programmes through collaboration with domestic and international partners.”

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