Niaga AWANI: Cradle Live! | Building And Financing Malaysia’s Next

Name: Niaga AWANI: Cradle Live! | Building And Financing Malaysia’s Next – Gen Startups
Uploaded: 2026-11-05T03:14:32+00:00
Duration: 19 min 41 s
Channel: AWANI

00:08Malaysia's startup ecosystem has come a long way with more entrepreneurs to the

00:12funding opportunities and support programs to actually emerging over the

00:16years but building a startup ecosystem is not just about getting businesses off

00:20the ground it's about creating companies that can actually survive, scale and

00:25compete beyond our own borders so and that's the competition taking center

00:29stage here at this year's Cradle Life Summit 2026 and now it's the second

00:35edition carrying the theme built in Malaysia for ASEAN and beyond so the

00:40summit brings together founders investors and also industry players as

00:44well as financial institutions to explore what it takes to turn Malaysian

00:48innovation into commercially viable businesses with regional potential so

00:53to unpack where Malaysia's startup ecosystem stands today and what needs to

00:57happen next we're joined by Norman Matthew van Hecker the group chief executive

01:01officer of Cradle. Good morning Norman, how are you? Good, excited. Amazing, thank you for

01:05taking the time to speak with me. No worries, always a pleasure. Amazing, so this is the

01:09second edition. Yes. Right now we're recording on the first day but we're

01:14taking the two days, 4 and 5 November, right? Yes, yes. And we'll start with the

01:19bigger conversation, the big conversation first. Getting an idea of the ground is

01:23one thing about startup ecosystem but finding payment customers, generating

01:29recurring revenue and also building a sustainable company is another. So we know

01:35that Malaysia has no shortage of startup programs and funding initiatives or

01:38entrepreneurial talents so what is still holding our startups from becoming

01:42original success stories and what needs to change from now and beyond? Thank you. I'm always a firm believer

01:49that Malaysia has all the right ingredients. We do have the talent, we do have the

01:54funding. There's a lot of support from the government and also the private sector in

01:58terms of funding but I think what we need to do more of is actually to expand where we are

02:05taking these solutions and products that's being developed by our local startups not

02:10just locally but regionally and even beyond as well. I think there's a bit of a lack of

02:18exposure to what is available the opportunities that lies beyond just

02:22Malaysia. So you see ASEAN as a region holds 700 million population so as a

02:27consumer market is really really large and if you can do it in Malaysia I'm very

02:32sure we can do it within the region and once we've successfully done it in the

02:36region I'm very sure the next logical step is global stage. I believe you've seen a

02:41lot of how this startup ecosystem emerge and as well all of that. Why do where do

02:47Malaysian startups most often get stuck and are we doing enough to actually help

02:52them become commercially viable businesses? Yes I mean at Cradle we do believe that

02:57that early stage of a startup formative years is really really crucial so hence why the

03:04support from the government in terms of the grants, in terms of the capacity

03:07development programs, in terms of market access, platform, the connection, the networks, all

03:13that is essential at that very early days of a startup growth journey because why this

03:19is where we can then really build them with the right tools, the right capabilities to really

03:25build future champions, future tech companies that will take their challenge to the world. I think

03:31that's very crucial. And now we realise that Malaysia has now roughly about 35 million people and while ASEAN

03:37offers a much more larger regional opportunity but expanding across borders means dealing

03:43with different customers, regulations and also business cultures and also competitors

03:48as well. So how can Malaysian founders move beyond networking and also actually

03:54secure regional customers, partnerships and also investments? Exactly the thing that we

04:00launched this year today right in this event actually we just launched the region's first

04:04digital center of excellence for startups in the region it's called Startup ASEAN so last year we

04:11launched it as a networking platform as something to to track the startups within the region but this

04:17year we've elevated to a knowledge base, to an intelligence base, to an opportunity base specifically for

04:24the region. So Malaysian startups who are already on the Malaysian startup, single window mind startup will now

04:30have the opportunity to link with the investors, with other startups, with corporates, all the ecosystem

04:38players, any opportunities within the larger ASEAN region all via this one digital platform that's

04:45accessible to all, the Startup ASEAN Digital Center of Excellence. Looking forward to it and that brings me to my

04:51next

04:51question which is the outcome. So how will we know this initiatives like this platform Credit Life are actually

04:58working? Should success be measured by the number of startups that actually participate in this program

05:03and also maybe by how many go-to-win customers or perhaps raise capital and generate revenue? Well we don't

05:11look at one single initiative on its own I mean at the end of the day we have to look

05:15at how does it impact the

05:16entire country right so from a startup ecosystem we have to have that gauge about the kind of impact

05:21that the ecosystem has towards the country's economy and its people so hence why we launched the publication

05:27top 100 Malaysian startups to actually gauge where we are where we're going so we're not using some other

05:34foreign uh gauge that uses maybe uses perception based uh survey or a sample based survey this is actual data

05:44from all the 5,000 startups that we have registered currently within Malaysia and we see how they're

05:50doing financially and we'll look at how they are growing we look at their fundraising performance the kind

05:55of technologies that they are in to actually come up and gauge where we are as a country ecosystem and

06:03from

06:03there we can then refine our approach make things better this this summit is only in the second iteration you

06:11know the third one will only be better so something to really look forward to so indeed uh today's effort

06:17is for better tomorrow but we want to look ahead for 12 months um when we return to credit live

06:23summit in 2017 next year uh what concrete result would convince you uh that Malaysia has made journey

06:30progress and not just how another successful summit well to me i mean event is an event you know sometimes

06:38uh

06:39you know you see the participation you see the the the people that come but i think sometimes i mean

06:45that that's the number part as well where we have with our top 100 publication that we can gauge the

06:49performance right but sometimes we also have to see the sentiment of things so events like this really gives you

06:56that feeling of sentiment how the ecosystem is doing and truth be told even from last year's event

07:03there's actually quite a lot of interest coming outside of malaysia so first time this year we have actually a

07:09contingent from hong kong actually bringing in 10 startups from hong kong so events like this is actually

07:15taking a hold within the malaysian startup ecosystem and what more importantly is that it brings and it elevates

07:23malaysia's position as one of the leading hub for startups in uh globally so moving towards fostering

07:30um and also building malaysia start ecosystem what is that one breakthrough that you would like to see

07:35from malaysian startups um especially over the next year i mean that's a lot that's a lot that's a lot

07:42i

07:42mean if you were to look at the top 100 do you have really really great startup at every kind

07:47of

07:47technology be it in terms of agritech food tech ai digital there's some even looking into space

07:54satellites i mean i wish we can have all of them to be successful and exactly that's what we're doing

07:59in cradle we are looking for something that we can you know as much as possible we don't leave anybody

08:04behind we don't leave any founder behind we will try to do something as much as we can as we

08:09possibly can

08:10the best that we can to be able to help the founders the 5 000 startups that we have in

08:15malaysia

08:16amazing thank you so much norman for your insight just now and clearly we are building a successful

08:20startup i requires more than just good ideas and effort uh and also access to funding as well

08:27so it also requires the right market conditions industry partnerships and financial institutions

08:31willing to look beyond traditional business models and that brings us to another uh part important part

08:37of the equation and the role of the banks in supporting the next generation in businesses so we'll

08:42continue this conversation after this quick welcome back to niagawani and we're continuing our

09:02discussion at the cradle live summit 2026 and malaysia's ambition to build startups that can actually

09:08compete across aSEAN region and we've heard about the challenges from the ecosystem development

09:14perspective but for startups to actually scale up access to financing and also the confidence of

09:20financial institutions are actually equally important so joining us now is dr erin sam the crew jiv

09:27strategy and transformation officer of alliance bank which returns at the summit's title partner for

09:32the second consecutive year the second consecutive year erin welcome to niagawani um we see now that

09:37alliance bank has written as a second title panel for the second consecutive year and usually traditionally

09:43banks um see that established businesses uh well startups are often seen as the riskier opportunities

09:51so what convinced alliance bank that investing in the startup ecosystem is business opportunity

09:56rather than just simply a way of supporting entrepreneurship yeah so actually firstly we're very

10:03happy to come back as title partner right and our partnership with cradle is actually not new it dates

10:08back to the early 2010 decade right we've been working with them for many many years on different

10:15programs right but i think a key point to note uh is alliance bank is actually not a stranger to

10:23startups

10:23right uh contrary to you know uh conventional approaches of banking right we believe that we need to engage

10:32businesses at a much earlier stage uh at alliance we have this principle that we call the three a's right

10:41so

10:41first a being advocacy second a being advice third a is where the answers come in so the financing

10:49and all those come in and all those come in and the last a right but the first two a's

10:54we believe are

10:55very important because at the end of the day a business relationship with a bank is not just when

11:02they need money because often when if you come to a bank only when you need money right the conversation

11:08is

11:08a bit too late right because uh there could be other peripheral issues that will make it more difficult for

11:17you to get the financing so i think that's the principle behind us engaging these businesses at a

11:23very early stage so that we help them in their business goals their business journey but also think

11:31about the financial discipline around running a business so that's that's why we're engaging them so

11:37early amazing but eric usually when we ask entrepreneurs and also startups um for them and for many

11:43founders in general um to them getting a meeting with a bank is as um challenging as meeting with

11:50investors let's for example so when a young company walks through coming to the bank and knock the door

11:56what separates a promising business uh from one that is simply not ready and what can founders do to

12:02actually become more convincing to them yeah so back to my point earlier around speaking to the bank

12:09early right so and that's what we're trying to do to engage these businesses early to tell them that

12:14hey actually we can help you to be bank ready so uh practical things like segregating your business

12:22and personal cash flow i think many entrepreneurs are very good at their craft but they don't realize

12:27that some of the financial habits that they have right may be impeding them from future financing and

12:34loan opportunities right so we actually be very transparent with startups right for example through

12:41our bismar challenge program we have this coaching session where we actually share with them what do

12:47banks actually look for when we evaluate a loan application right so to try to demystify banking right

12:55and provide a very layman view of what do you practically need to do so you build a very positive

13:02credit

13:02history so that whichever bank that you go and talk to further downstream right you'll be in a very good

13:08position to obtain financing right i also want to address your point earlier that it's very difficult

13:15to talk to banks so what we have done is we've actually opened up different channels right so a startup

13:21can actually apply to us right just with six months in operations right track record right and they can do

13:29that

13:30application digitally right so we have this digital SME proposition whereby a small business just needs to

13:36supply us their six months bank statements right with that we can do the full processing of the loan

13:42without them even having to come in in person because we will do the virtual interviews via remotely right

13:51and even the company due diligence in terms of the site visits that we typically do physically right

13:59that we can now do virtually as well so basically you don't even need to come and see us in

14:04person

14:05to be able to accessible yeah it's much easier now for for startups and young businesses right to be able

14:12to access such financing all right that's a great initiatives especially for those of founders and so

14:19startups out there but i want to take a step further because we see now that a startup may have

14:25a viable product

14:26and even a growing customer but scaling requires a different level of capital financial discipline

14:33and also business planning um are traditional banking products and financing structures equipped

14:38enough to support these evolving needs or does the banking sector itself need to rethink

14:44of how it serves startups and high growth companies yeah so i think it really depends on the stage that

14:51that startup is in you know i think you heard from norman earlier right how cradle covers a lot of

14:57the early

14:57startup funding requirements right banks will then come in at the slightly more mature phases right but

15:05banking is not just limited to loans or financing right as these companies grow they may want want to tap

15:11into capital market solutions whether it is issuing you know super corporate papers or even exploring ipo so

15:22we have actually you know within our own base of clients how many of these smes as they grow right

15:28realize that actually financing is not the only way to expand right you can raise capital through capital

15:34market options right and we've successfully done that for many of our clients so coming back to this

15:40summit uh credit life with the theme of build in malaysia for asean and beyond um as the malaysian

15:47startups look to expand regionally um their financing needs will also become more complex so they may need

15:54capital for market entry cross-border operations and also regional partnerships um how can banks like alliance

16:00bank play more a strategic role in helping melissa companies make that transition from local businesses

16:07into regional markets yeah great question i think that's one of the main reasons why we're working so

16:13closely with people like cradle right because we realize as a bank for us to provide meaningful support

16:20we cannot do it alone right there are limitations in terms of what the bank alone can do but with

16:26partners

16:26such as cradle we also partner with universities now so monash university malaysia is one of our key

16:32partners as well to provide a very practical view and data driven view of what the opportunities and

16:38risks are for smes i'll just end on one final example we i think for many small businesses they are

16:45now

16:45trying to grapple with sustainability issues because they are buyers who tend to be larger companies are

16:52imposing all these esg requirements yes on these smaller companies so for a small company to try to

16:58navigate and figure out what all these things mean right it's quite challenging so we actually come in

17:04with our partners to help them make sense of what esg is all about right but also connect them to

17:10the

17:11right solutions providers so that they can take the right action in order to comply with some of these

17:17requirements and also to open up market access so that they can then sell to a broader base of

17:23multinational clients who would have these stringent esg requirements okay so for us we always believe

17:30that as a bank there are things that we do really well but there are also things that we will

17:35work with

17:37partners with cradle is a great example right to complete that entire proposition great initiatives

17:43actually and great strategy partnerships with financial institutions with the cradle as well

17:49but looking forward if you could give the malaysian startup founders one piece of advice perhaps from

17:55a banking perspective what is that one thing that they should start doing differently today to improve

18:01their chances of securing finance help and support i think if there's one thing i would say to them is

18:07speak to us early right we are here our doors are open right the earlier you speak to us the

18:12more that we

18:12can help you with they're scared so i think that's why we're creating these different channels so if

18:18you're maybe scared to talk to us at the beginning you can use our digital channels right and i think

18:23we we really genuinely want to get to know you better right and see what we can do to help

18:27your

18:27business and if we ourselves can't help you we can always link you up with a partner that's more than

18:33willing to assist you how easy to get help or maybe um they actually have difficulties and accessibilities

18:40so where can we uh get in touch with the bankers we can meet online absolutely right so through our

18:47digital channels through the many avenues whether it's this event right just come come and speak to

18:52us we're more than happy to have a chat okay amazing aaron so ultimately building a startup uh ecosystem

18:56that can actually complete uh regionally requires more than innovation alone so it takes commercially viable

19:02business model um access to the right financing stronger industry collaboration and ultimately the ability to

19:09turn local potential into regional opportunities and that is the bigger ambition here at the cradle

19:15live summit at 2026 to build in malaysia but think beyond asian as well so thank you to norman

19:22matthew verga earlier of cradle and now with me is dr aaron some of alliance bank for sharing your

19:27insights with us thank you again thank you so much and thank you for watching your gawani and you can

19:30find this whole discussion on all of our social media platforms and that includes astro18.com

Niaga AWANI: Cradle Live! | Building And Financing Malaysia’s Next – Gen Startups

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