Cradle Fund ropes in four more co-investment partners

PETALING JAYA: Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd has joined forces with four more co-investment partners following its first co-investment partnership with Singapore-based seed fund provider, Golden Gate Ventures Pte Ltd last June.
Co-investment means Cradle will match the investment made by an investing partner or angel investor ringgit to ringgit.
Cradle signed a co-investing agreement with four new partners – Fatfish Ventures Sdn Bhd, OSK Venture International Bhd, CoEnt Venture Partners Pte Ltd and Crystal Horse Investments Ptd Ltd to fund Malaysian technology-based startups.
The partners will invest up to RM500,000 (about S$193,348) each, while Cradle will match the amount invested by its partners according startups with up to RM1 million in funding collectively.
This time around, Cradle will be taking equity in the companies invested, which is a first for the government-linked agency.
The agreement which will see investments in between three and 10 companies a year, will see some RM11.5 million invested, making it the largest co-investment agreement Cradle has signed thus far.
Cradle CEO Nazrin Hassan said the working relationship with the new partners will further give Malaysian technology startups the extra edge as they prepare to compete at the global level.
He sees Cradle's expansion into co-investment a one of the steps for attracting foreign investors, especially venture capitalists and angel groups.
Nazrin said Cradle plans to channel 70% of its funding allocation to co-investing initiatives by 2017.
In its 10-year history, Cradle has funded almost 700 Malaysian technology startups through its CIP Catalyst product development grant and its CIP500 product commercialisation grant.