KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — SuperCharger, a leading financial technology (fintech) accelerator in Asia, aims to surpass the US$14.9 million (US$1=RM4.14) in investments raised at last year’s SuperCharger Malaysia programme at the 2018 edition.

The 12-week programme starting today seeks to assist selected fintech companies by facilitating business introductions to multiple tier-1 financial organisations.

SuperCharger Malaysia General Manager Johnny Mayo said it was also targeting 150 business introductions during the second edition of the programme in Malaysia, and hoped to finalise 18 contracts.

“We will be working with a large network of venture capitals and angel investors this year, much bigger than what we had last year, thanks to the involvement of the Malaysia Venture Capital Association,” he told reporters after the programme’s cohort introduction here today.

Advertisement

Only 10 out of 200 applications by scale-up companies from 32 countries were accepted to participate in this year’s programme, representing fintech sub-sectors such as insurance technology, regulatory technology, payments, wealth management, artificial intelligence and compliance.

The companies were MotionsCloud (Germany), Laka (United Kingdom), SalesCandy (Malaysia), Pensieve (India), Perx (Singapore), Prive Technologies (Hong Kong), Heckyl (India), AuditXPRT (United Kingdom), HelloGold (Malaysia) and Curlec (Malaysia).

Collectively, the companies have raised investments of over US$25 million to date and boast more than 80 corporate clients between them.

Advertisement

Earlier, in his speech, Mayo noted that while there were plenty of programmes that catered to new entrepreneurs to ideate their product, few were designed for established entrepreneurs with a track record of success in their domestic market, and who wished to replicate that success in South-east Asia.

“By not taking up any equity in the companies we accelerate, we can attract later-stage scale-ups who are looking to soft-land in the Asia Pacific, choosing Malaysia as their base of operations for regional expansion.

“This neutral position allows us to create a win-win situation for both our cohorts, our partners and the ecosystem as a whole,” he added.

Also present were Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Chief Operating Officer Datuk Ng Wan Peng and SuperCharger founder, Janos Barberis.

Asked as to the impact of the United States-China trade war on investment inflows into Malaysia, specifically for fintech companies, Barberis said it was limited to the import and export of physical goods, and did not extend to the digital economy.

Meanwhile, Mayo said the new Pakatan Harapan government had sparked a renewed sense of optimism over Malaysia, boosting foreign investments in all sectors, including fintech. — Bernama