PETALING JAYA: Early-stage start-up influencer Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd is expected to introduce a brand new series of grants in the second quarter of the year with the RM20 mil allocation for it under the 2020 Budget.
Acting group CEO Razif Abdul Aziz said the completely new grant products would replace the current Cradle Investment Programme 300 (CIP300), a pre-seed programme that provided a conditional grant and value-added assistance of up to RM300,000 for entrepreneurs to kickstart innovative technology-based start-ups to develop and commercialise their products or services.
“Our target is to launch it in the first week of April, and applications will open at that time,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Coach and Grow Programme (CGP) 2020 here.
Razif said the focus of the grants would still be on technology-related startups.
However, he refused to divulge further details of the grants, saying only that the company is in final discussions with the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (MESTECC) and the Finance Ministry (MOF) to fine-tune the products.
Asked if the change of government would affect the introduction of the new grants, he said he did not think so as the company had already received the RM20 mil allocation.
“I do not want to speculate about any change in terms of the government, but we will proceed and our role is to execute the last instruction,” he said.
On the impact from COVID-19, Razif said thus far, Cradle Fund has yet to receive any requests from the startups asking for key performance indicator or target extension.
However, he said, if businesses involved in the tourism sector were hit by the virus, the company would take it into consideration and allow room for adjustment for the affected startups.
“The (previous) government had launched a stimulus package to help the businesses, so we will definitely take it into consideration.
“For genuine cases, we will probably allow some room for the affected startups because we understand (the situation),” he added.
Co-organised with Proficeo Consultants Sdn Bhd, CGP is a specialised coaching programme focused on nurturing startups and growth-stage companies to get them on the path of sustainable revenue generation and scale.
Razif, in his speech earlier, said the aim is to secure 120 companies and 340 entrepreneurs to participate in CGP 2020.
Since its inception in 2011, the coaching programme has helped 469 companies and 1657 individual entrepreneurs.
To date, companies that have participated in the 12-month programme have generated revenue of more than RM2 bil and export revenue of more than RM310 mil, besides raising over RM436 mil in funds. – March 11, 2020, Bernama
