The first ever double Virtual MoU ceremony held by the three organizations were signed in the presence of Dato’ Norhalim Yunus, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), Shamsul Jafni Shafie, Chief Executive Officer of pitchIN and YM Tunku Danny Nasaifuddin Mudzaffar, Chief Executive Officer of MicroLEAP, today. KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) today signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pitch Platforms Sdn Bhd (pitchIN) and Microleap PLT (MicroLEAP) respectively to collaborate and cooperate in the areas of peer-to-peer (P2P) financing, equity crowdfunding (ECF), capital investment and investing in companies outside their ecosystem. Both entities are providers of public funding (CF) registered platforms in Malaysia that include Public Equity Funding (ECF) & Equal Funding (P2P).
In a statement, MTDC said that both collaboration would enable the company to participate in equity crowdfunding investment and P2P financing up to thirty per centum (30%) in eligible prospective companies per campaign of equity crowdfunding and P2P financing. The collaboration will also grant access to the relevant information in relation to offerings on the equity crowdfunding and P2P financing platform.
The idea behind this partnership is to collaborate with private funding companies so that a synergy can be created between the funds provided by the government and the sophisticated investors that invest in this platform.
This collaboration projects a significant venture for MTDC as it will be the first government agency in Malaysia to come on board the crowdfunding platform where MTDC will coinvest and provide matching funds on technology projects that meets the investment criteria. MTDC sees this as a new initiative on funding for SMEs as the government is encouraging and promoting co-investment and matching funds. By engaging these partners, MTDC's funding program will be more flexible in covering SMEs 'verticals & horizontals' and risk funding scheme. The funds extended by the government to MTDC can be further extended to reach more recipients.
The first ever double Virtual MoU ceremony held by the three organizations were signed in the presence of Dato’ Norhalim Yunus, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), Shamsul Jafni Shafie, Chief Executive Officer of pitchIN and YM Tunku Danny Nasaifuddin Mudzaffar, Chief Executive Officer of MicroLEAP.
The first MoU signed is a co-investment partnership between pitchIN and MTDC. The RM10 million co-investment fund is initially available from MTDC for technology and deep science focused startups. MTDC will invest along with crowdfunders in companies identified jointly by pitchIN and MTDC as having high-growth potential and compelling innovations and technologies. As a start, MTDC will invest up to RM900,000 or maximum of 30% of equity in companies that meet its investment criteria.
Sam Shafie, CEO pitchIN, said, “pitchIN is delighted to work with MTDC in this significant venture. This funding initiative will be of immense benefit to science and technology based companies seeking capital to grow their businesses. Leveraging on the power of the crowd, this programme will identify and fund the companies with the most potential to succeed and bring value to investors as well as the nation’s economy.” pitchIN invites companies with home grown technologies and innovation to contact them to learn more about this co-investment scheme or apply for the funding.
The second MoU is between MTDC and MicroLEAP. MTDC has allocated a RM2 million co-investment fund initially available to finance technology-focused companies in sectors such as deep sciences, green tech, advanced materials, medical devices and I4.0. MTDC will co-invest alongside P2P Investors in companies identified jointly by microLEAP and MTDC as having high-growth potential.
To start with, MTDC will invest up to RM500,000, or maximum of 30%, in Shariah-compliant Investment Notes issued by these companies on microLEAP’s platform as long as it meets its investment criteria.
“MTDC is rolling out a great initiative and it is an honour to be appointed as the P2P Financing partner for this. The support shown by MTDC will be an enormous help to our local Tech industry as tech companies seek to raise funds. With MTDC part-funding the financing requirements of these Tech companies, it will be a strong pull for many of our P2P Investors to get involved” says Tunku Danny Mudzaffar, Founder and CEO of microLEAP.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of MTDC, Dato’ Norhalim Yunus said, “These collaboration will help more and more local entrepreneurs to work on developing 4.0 industry technologies. This initiative will also help us to identify companies so we can help them grow faster. I also feel that there is a synergy in terms of how these companies that we can co-finance will be brought into the MTDC ecosystem so that we can build networks with companies that we have funded so they can work together to help each other grow domestically, regionally and internationally.
We want to build relationships with other organisations that receive funding or technology from the government. This collaboration will allow us to bring what we have in MTDC and merge this with pitchIN and MicroLEAP.”
ABOUT MTDC MTDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad and has been the key player in commercialisation and management of government funding since the 7th Malaysia Plan. The company was set-up in 1992 to promote the adoption of technologies by local companies via commercialisation of local R&D or acquisition of foreign technologies. Since then, MTDC has been a key player in commercialisation and management of Government funds. Currently, MTDC manages Halal Technology Development Fund (HTDF), Business Start-Up Fund (BSF) and Business Growth Fund (BGF).
Besides fund management, MTDC also provides an integrated support services for technopreneurs which includes advisory services such as mentoring, soft-landing, branding, fund raising, international collaboration and networking. MTDC’s commercialisation ecosystem has provided funding and assistance to over 500 technology-based companies that are involved in a wide range of activities ranging from the agricultural sector to ICT.
ABOUT pitchIN pitchIN is a Recognized Market Operator (RMO) by the Securities Commission of Malaysia to offer an Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) platform for companies to raise their funding from the public that includes, retail, angel, sophisticated, VCs and institutional investors. Co-founded by Sam Shafie and Kashminder Singh, pitchIN is a market leader for ECF in Malaysia having raised RM72 mil+ for 56 companies in various market sectors with more than 3700 investments made into fast growing Malaysian companies. For more information, please visit
https://www.equity.pitchin.myABOUT microLEAPmicroLEAP is a P2P (Peer-to-Peer) financing platform that allows businesses to raise crowd-sourced funds. These Issuers (borrowers) my raise financing from as little as RM1,000 while P2P Investors may invest in ‘Investment Notes’ issued by them from as little as RM50. microLEAP is unique in that it offers both Islamic and Conventional P2P financing on the same platform. microLEAP is licensed and regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). To learn more, please visit:
https://www.microleapasia.comSOURCE: Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC)
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
MTDC Corporate Communications Department
Name: Alvirah Mohd Natt
Tel: 017 212 2802
Email: alvirah@mtdc.com.my
Name: Sharus Shavek Sharudin
Tel: 012 3584181
Email: shavek@mtdc.com.my
--BERNAMA
