KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM90 million has been raised from SME Investment Partner (SIP) Programme, said Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof.

He said the fund was ready to be disbursed for investments in SMEs.

Of the total, RM40 million was channeled from the government via SME Corp, Redzuan added.

Both of the fund’s SME partners, Warisan Quantum Management Sdn Bhd and RHL Ventures Sdn Bhd, have raised up to RM50 million to be matched with the government’s seed fund.

“The government is committed to providing an alternative pathway for SMEs to access financing by crowding in private investors to invest into viable SMEs through SIP programme.

“The programme aims to complement the existing financing landscape for SMEs, offering both equity and debt financing to meet SMEs financing needs, to finance mainly the early-stage of their operations of between one and three years covering all sectors.

“The sectors include main street firms that have strong high growth potential, innovation as well as emerging areas.

“This is better spread compared to the current venture capital financing which is mainly for technology-based companies,” he said at the launch of the SIP programme here today.

The programme, one of the high impact programmes (HIPs) under the SME Masterplan 2012-2020, is implemented by SME Corp, an agency under the ministry.

SME Corp has identified more than 150 potential deals from existing SME development programme such as Tunas Usahawan Belia Bumiputera (TUBE) and other programmes implemented in collaboration with PlaTCOM Ventures, MaGIC and Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia for preliminary assessment under the SIP programme.

During the launch, SMEs were also given an insight from industry experts into pitching to their potential investors and networking with their peers.