PETALING JAYA: Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, under the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation, has approved 28 startups for the first three batches under the CIP Spark & CIP Sprint programmes with a total of RM8.24 million as of September 2022.
Launched in March of this year, both conditional grants were allocated under the 12th Malaysia Plan with the aim to support the holistic development and commercialisation for startups via various value-added services to help nurture, develop and prepare them with business model development, market validation and market access.
Cradle senior vice president of grant Juliana Jan said these 28 startups, drawn from a range of various industry verticals, have shown great potentials in terms of technological advancement applied, business model innovation and market-fit solutions. The awarding of these grants will act as a bridge for them to further develop and strengthen the product, validate the business model and assist in the commercialisation and market access before the next stage of fund raising. This will definitely broaden the commercialisation funding funnel within the ecosystem.
“Cradle, as the focal point agency for the early-stage startup ecosystem sees this as a definite and proactive effort in line with the government’s aspiration for the nation to be recognised as the leading startup hub. Cradle will continue to support and empower the local startup ecosystem by addressing one of the biggest pain points faced by early-stage startups, which is funding. By assisting these startups with development grants, we believe it will bridge the gap for them to cross the ‘valley of death’ in startup life cycle as we help accelerate product commercialisation,” she added.
The 11 startups that were announced as the pioneer batch recipients include Beebag, CoKeeps, Officio.work, Apping Technology, Green QR, Cloud Theatre, De Eco SR Hygiene, Pinetop Technologies, Core Halal, Delyva and Neuon Ai.
CIP Spark is a conditional development grant that offers a financing period of up to 18 months and is open to individuals, private companies, limited liability partnerships and Sdn Bhd companies. While CIP Sprint is a conditional convertible commercialisation grant that offers a financing period of 18 months and is open to Sdn Bhd companies, including university and research institutes spin-offs.
