Khazanah Wants More Startups to Scale via Dana Impak After 95x Oversubscribed IPO

Malaysian founders chasing institutional capital just got a public case study. SkyeChip, a fabless IC design startup, attracted venture funding before Khazanah Nasional stepped in as a cornerstone investor via Dana Impak—and the result was a 297.7% IPO debut. The message from Khazanah MD Amirul Feisal is clear: this was not a one-off, and more local startups should use the programme to scale.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd has put SkyeChip Bhd at the center of a new playbook for Malaysian startups, using the semiconductor designer's explosive Bursa Malaysia debut to encourage more companies to scale with venture capital and institutional support under its Dana Impak programme. Managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir, speaking during a visit to Bernama's headquarters, said SkyeChip drew participation from many venture funds, which helped the company grow before it sought further institutional backing. He confirmed that just before the initial public offering, Khazanah took a direct stake to become a cornerstone investor, and said the assistance came through Dana Impak and was not a one-time occurrence. The result was a listing that grabbed attention across Malaysia's capital market.

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SkyeChip, a fabless IC design startup, attracted venture funding before Khazanah Nasional stepped in as a cornerstone investor via Dana Impak—and the result was a 297.7% IPO debut.

SkyeChip, a fabless integrated circuit design company specializing in silicon intellectual properties and silicon products, made its debut at RM3.50 on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. That first-day price was RM2.62, or 297.7 percent, above its IPO price of 88 sen. The retail response was equally striking: the Malaysian public tranche drew 74,453 applications for 3.45 billion shares, translating to an oversubscription rate of 95 times. Those figures underline the scale of demand for a local semiconductor design story, and they give Khazanah a concrete success to cite as it tries to widen the funnel of startups seeking later-stage capital.

The strategic context matters. Khazanah's Dana Impak programme appears to function as a patient capital vehicle that can support early-stage companies after venture capital has validated their business models. Amirul Feisal's remarks suggest an intentional sequencing: VC participation first, then sovereign or institutional backing, then a public listing. The fact that Khazanah came in just before the IPO as a cornerstone investor shows the programme is not only about early-stage grants or small equity injections. It can anchor a company's transition to the public market, reducing perceived execution risk for other institutional buyers and giving retail investors a signal of confidence. For a market like Bursa Malaysia, which has long sought more technology listings, this is a meaningful demonstration effect.

There are also broader ecosystem implications. Malaysia has a well-established semiconductor assembly and testing industry, but it has been less prominent in higher-value activities such as IC design and silicon IP. SkyeChip's success may encourage more fabless startups to pursue growth capital and eventual listings at home rather than looking abroad. At the same time, the episode highlights the need for deeper venture capital participation. Amirul Feisal made clear that broader participation across the ecosystem would be key to enabling more companies to follow SkyeChip's path. That is an implicit acknowledgment that the current startup financing ecosystem may not be deep enough to replicate the outcome at scale.