KUALA LUMPUR (July 3): Sunway Bhd has established a new venture capital (VC) fund, Sun SEA Capital LP, with a proposed investment of US$5 million.

Sunway said the new VC fund and subsequent investment will enable the group to accelerate its digital transformation through investments into synergistic digital startups, and conduct external fundraising to grow the startups.

In a statement, Sunway said its wholly-owned subsidiary Sunway City Sdn Bhd has today signed an initial exempted limited partner agreement to set up the new VC fund.

"With the initial investment, Sun SEA Capital will seek to provide scalable startups in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong specialising in online-to-offline convergence, enterprise solutions, logistics, digital media/entertainment, financial technology and digital health sectors access to Series A investments worth US$1-3 million per ticket size," it added.

Sunway said Sun SEA Capital combines the expertise and resources of the diversified Sunway Group, as well as the vast network, experience and intuition of two seasoned venture capitalists — Koichi Saito and Kuan Hsu who act as the fund's consultants and directors, as well as members of the fund's investment committee.

"We hope to see Sun SEA Capital attract great talents from around the region to pursue sustainable growth with us. Koichi and Kuan's experience and networks will help us widen our footprint in the region especially in Japan and Taiwan," said Sunway Group president Datuk Chew Chee Kin.

Koichi said Sun SEA Capital will help Sunway Group pursue new innovations by looking to invest in startups with technologies such IoT, artificial intelligence and blockchain towards the sustainability of its businesses.

Sunway shares closed unchanged at RM1.55 today, for a market capitalisation of RM7.63 billion.