Antler, a global early-stage venture capital firm, has arrived in Malaysia through a partnership with the country’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) Khazanah Nasional Berhad as it seeks to back over 30 startups in the next three years, per a statement on Thursday.
In SE Asia, Antler has a foothold in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The firm has invested in over 792 companies across 26 cities worldwide with a combined portfolio value of $3.7 billion.
“We are on a mission to fundamentally improve the world by backing and investing in the world’s most exceptional people from Day Zero to greatness,” Jussi Salovaara, Antler’s co-founder and managing partner Asia, said.
Antler’s Malaysia chapter will begin its inaugural Venture Generation Program from its new Kuala Lumpur office in October 2023 and applications are currently open, the firm said.
Khazanah’s partnership with Antler is the latest addition to the SWF’s Future Malaysia Programme, an initiative under the firm’s 6 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion) Dana Impak mandate aimed at supporting the local startup ecosystem over five years.
Future Malaysia Programme was launched in March with an aim to deploy an initial amount of approximately 180 million ringgit by working with established local and international venture capital firms as well as Malaysia-based corporate venture programmes.
Besides Antler, Khazanah also has partnerships with pan-Asia venture capital Gobi Partners and international venture capital 500 Global under the same mandate.
Both Khazanah and Antler are poised to provide access for Malaysian startups to tap into Antler’s global platform and network to propel their growth and future opportunities.
“The strategic collaboration with Antler marks a new chapter in Malaysia’s entrepreneurial landscape, underscoring Khazanah’s unwavering commitment to introducing innovative and impactful solutions. This is another step forward for our Future Malaysia Programme, which aims to scale Malaysian ideas and businesses to be globally competitive,” Khazanah managing director Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said in the statement.