The RM100 million Technology Start-ups Funding Relief Facility (TSFRF) by Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV) which was announced last week is a great way to help startups where their announcements are welcomed by the group.
Futurise Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Mahadhir Aziz said the announcement by Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Khairy Jamaluddin impacts the livelihood of the startups in the Covid-19 crisis and are very much welcomed by the ecosystem.
“We believe that the fund should not only be used to help shore up the operations of the startups. Rather, we should fund solution developments towards the Recovery Stage of Malaysia – powered by those very
startups that we seek to assist.
“Part of our DNA is that we work with startups and it’s ecosystem within the innovation space all the time. We are keen to explore to channel the startups’ innovation projects under TSFRF to Futurity which is our Open Innovation Platform to be available and accessible to solution seekers.
“How it works is that it is a platform where people can look at various challenges and issues at hand, then look at the funding that is available to do that, and the support from the government in terms of agencies and ministries,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Joachim Sebastian, founder of Everpeaks, a local multi-channel e-commerce solutions provider said the recent announcement of the government regarding funding for startups will greatly help
their startup ecosystem.
“The very nature of a startup generally has an early unprofitable phase where technology is being built, the market is being validated and the product being fine tuned. During this time, startups will never qualify for traditional funding.
“Thus, an alternative debt, grant and equity funding mechanism is required to shore up these startups to survive the effects of the pandemic. Having debt as the instrument for funding also supports startups which already have cashflow.
He believe that startups can no longer rely on the high growth at all costs pathway.
“Debt changes that dynamic significantly. I look forward to reading the fine print once the actual packages by MDV, Cradle and the others are announced,” he said.
