The first closing for Hibiscus Fund LP by RHL Ventures Sdn Bhd, one of the venture capital (“VC”) fund managers under the Dana Penjana Nasional programme (“Dana Penjana Programme”) with Penjana Kapital Sdn Bhd (“Penjana Kapital”) took place on 1 April 2021. Dana Penjana Nasional is a matching fund-of-funds programme, which is part of the Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) launched by the Government of Malaysia in June 2020.
 
Under the Dana Penjana Programme, the government will match up to US$149 million (RM600 million), on a 1:1 basis, funds raised by the VC fund managers from foreign and private local investors, with an initial target allocation of RM1.2 billion.
 
The Malaysian Government, through Penjana Kapital, has attracted eight VC fund managers from the USA, South Korea, China, Indonesia and Singapore to invest in Malaysian start-ups in the tech sector as part of the US$297 million (RM1.2 billion) Dana Penjana Programme. To date, the selected fund managers have indicated additional investments, to achieve a maximum fund size of RM1.57 billion, or RM370 million above the original allocation of RM1.2 billion but with the government’s funding commitment remains capped at RM600 million.
 
The funds raised will be invested primarily in Malaysian start-ups, with selected investments into Asian investee companies as well, on condition that these can bring tangible economic benefits to the Malaysian economy with focus on sectors such as agri-tech, edu-tech, mobility and artificial intelligence (AI).
 
The VCs are spread across different funding stages, namely the seed, seed A & B, growth and venture debt stages.
 
Our Partners, Sharifah Shafika Alsagoff (shafika@skrine.com) and Hafidah Aman Hashim (hafidah@skrine.com), advised Penjana Kapital on the transaction documents executed between Penjana Kapital and six of the eight VCs.