Mavcap emerges a big, behind the scenes, winner in 14th MVCA Awards 2020/2021

• Continue effort to ensure VC ecosystem is viable with global scale in mind
• Indirect role in six award winners, while winning in Funds Raised category

They won one award, but it turns out the big winner, albeit indirectly, from last month’s Malaysian Venture Capital Association’s (MVCA) 14th MVCA Awards 2020/2021, was Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd or MAVCAP.

The venture firm points to having had a role in the growth of six MVCA award winners, in the awards created to recognise industry players, partners and entrepreneurs that have achieved outstanding milestones in the funding industry of Malaysia.

Expressing his gratitude, Shahril Anas, Mavcap CEO, said: “Mavcap is proud and honoured with recognition from MVCA for all our partners, fund managers and startups recognised as winners (in respective categories) for year 2020/2021. It is a testament of our collaborative effort with private sector to spur the local VC ecosystem by supporting credible fund managers & incubators (local and foreign) and creating quality startups in becoming regional champions (see main pic). MAVCAP will continue this effort to ensure local VC ecosystem is viable with global scale in mind and creating more local unicorns.”

The seven categories in which it was a direct and indirect winner, are:

• Deal of the Year | Carsome
• Supportive Industry Partners | Sunway Group
• Outstanding Incubator/Coworking Space | Sunway iLabs - Mavcap ecosystem partner with Sunway Group
• Outstanding Women Entrepreneur | Lennise Ng – mavcap ecosystem partner with Vynn Capital
• Firm of the Year – Large Cap | 500 Southeast Asia
• Funds Raised | MAVCAP (Orbit Malaysia Fund I)
• Responsible Investment Award | 500 Southeast Asia

Its earliest partner was 500 Southeast Asia in 2014, when the US venture firm was called 500 Startups and it launched a US$25 million Southeast Asian fund called 500 Durians I. Among the investments that fund made were in unicorns, Grab, Carousell and Indonesia’s Bukalapak. Two years later, Mavcap returned as a lead investor in the 500 Durians II Fund as well, ensuring it kept its involvement in the fast growing Southeast Asian startup ecosystem.

Receiving two awards from MVCA, Khailee Ng, Managing Partner, 500 Southeast Asia shared his thoughts about the Responsible Investment Award.

“Awards bring attention to the hard work of founders, their team members, customers, and families. The past two years have been hard for many of them, and VCs are privileged to serve. We salute the founders who join in the ESG journey for all, and who build empires of love - the love of tech, people, and using tech to impact people’s lives. We must remind the world that it’s too easy to follow the story of tech or money. The real story is about growth and triumph of the human spirit against all odds. It’s a story we share. After all, we are all in this business together.”

Picking up on Khailee’s “we are all in this together” emphasis, Lennise Ng, CEO and cofounder of Dropee, who won the Outstanding Women Entrepreneur category, thanked MVCA for, “acknowledging the hard efforts of my outstanding team at Dropee.” She shares that the pandemic has spurred significant growth for Dropee and its B2B eCommerce sector. “We look forward to creating more value to wholesalers and retailers by using technology that enables buying and selling in bulk at a faster, better, and cheaper way.”

Dropee is a Mavcap ecosystem partner who was invested in by Vynn Capital, which counts Mavcap as among the LPs in its debut Southeast Asian fund in 2019.

Since early 2020, Mavcap has also built a strong partnership with one of the largest conglomerates in Malaysia, the Sunway Group which won two awards from MVCA. “Winning the awards for supportive industry partner as well as outstanding incubator/ coworking space is a recognition of the unique innovation ecosystem that Sunway has built.  Through our established ideate, incubate and accelerate model we look forward to co-creating more smart solutions with budding entrepreneurs and scale-ups that will create a sustainable impact on society and the environment,” said Matthijs van Leeuwen, Group Chief Innovation Officer of Sunway Group.

Mavcap also made a late splash, winning the Funds Raised category with its key role in the creation of the Nov 2021 launched Orbit Malaysia Fund I.

An Orbit Malaysia spokesperson says the Fund is glad to have both Sunway and Mavcap as the anchor investors. “This public private partnership is a continued support for Malaysian startups with opportunities to scale fast regionally via the combined network of Mavcap, Sunway Group and Kejora Capital of Indonesia.” 

Describing it as a unique fund with a strong cross border collaboration among a sovereign fund, local conglomerate and foreign VC, the spokesperson adds: “We welcome more Malaysian and foreign corporates to work with Orbit Malaysia to explore joint investment opportunities for Malaysian and Southeast Asian early stage startups.”