KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Kenanga Investors Bhd has launched the Kenanga Global Unicorn 1 (KGU1) fund to provide investors the opportunity to invest in tech start-up companies. 

Chief executive officer and executive director Ismitz Matthew De Alwis said the fund feeds into the Ericsenz-K2 Global Unicorn Fund — a unitised fund targeting superior medium-term returns by investing primarily in the securities of unicorn companies.

"Unicorn companies were much rarer three years ago, but now there are between 80 and 100 companies attaining that status every year, which is often associated with the signs of a near term initial public offering (IPO).

"Today, Asia is leading the way with at least 30 per cent of unicorns coming from China, when it used to be a term mainly associated with United States-based companies,” he said in a statement today.

A unicorn refers to any tech startup company that reaches US$1 billion dollar market value as determined by private or public investment.

De Alwis pointed out that the fairly recent development poses a lot of opportunities for investors to tap into, but with many unicorn companies choosing to stay private longer, they are not accessible to the everyday investor.

"This is the first time that this form of private equity investment is available to investors in Malaysia. The KGU1 offers our clients exclusive access to invest in these otherwise hard-to-reach investment opportunities,” he said.

De Alwis said the KGU1 aims to provide capital appreciation at the end of the fund’s maturity by investing in target funds, and is measured against a targeted 12 per cent internal rate of return per annum.

The target fund will be managed by Ericsenz Capital Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based venture capital and private equity firm, licensed under the Securities and Futures Act and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The fund is suitable for sophisticated investors who have medium to long-term investment horizons, which will be available in both ringgit and US$ classes.

It gives investors the option to invest in their preferred currency, with a minimum investment of RM100,000 or US$25,000. — Bernama