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Malaysia - Assessment of the Start-Up Financing Ecosystem

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2022-02-28
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2022-03-16
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In the context of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its impact on Malaysia's economy, the need to foster the emergence of an innovation-led economy has taken on increasing urgency. Public-sector involvement in the early-stage financing phase of the ecosystem is integral to crowding-in private investments, as seen by the impact of the establishment of government-sponsored venture capital (VC) funds in several small OECD countries, including Estonia and Finland. In turn, improved access to finance at the initial stages of a start-up and the crowding in of private capital will play a pivotal role in strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The government has devised a number of developmental roadmaps that emphasize the greater use of alternative forms of financing, such as VC and digital platform based models, including peer-to-peer financing (P2P) and equity crowdfunding (ECF). These strategies are an integral part of the government's strategies for maintaining growth as Malaysia achieves high-income nation status. This study aims to identify the financing gaps in Malaysia's start-up financing ecosystem and to propose specific policy levers to address the identified constraints on both the availability of and access to early-stage financing.
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Kuriakose, Smita; Fong, Kristina Siew Leng; Loh, John Jaan Hui; Zakaria, Mohamad Izwan Bin. 2022. Malaysia - Assessment of the Start-Up Financing Ecosystem. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37136 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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