Allianz Malaysia joins Gobi Partners’ SuperSeed II Fund

Allianz Malaysia joins Gobi Partners' SuperSeed II Fund

  • Other LPs backing Gobi SSII Fund are MAVCAP and Sunway Group
  • Focus on early-stage online companies focusing on AI, huge data, cloud, fintech

Allianz Malaysia joins Gobi Partners' SuperSeed II Fund Venture capital (VC) company Gobi Partners announced the closing from the US$10 million (RM45. 6 million) Gobi SuperSeed II (Gobi SSII) Fund following a participation of Allianz Malaysia Berhad (Allianz Malaysia) as a Limited Partner (LP).

In a declaration, the pan-Asian VC said other LPs backing the Gobi SSII Fund are institutional investors Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (MAVCAP) and Sunway Group.

It added that the Gobi SSII Account targets early-stage (Seed, Series Pre-A and Series A) technology-enabled local startups working within artificial cleverness, big data, impair, e-commerce, fintech, Internet of Things, plus halal-economy-focused segments, that have the capability to scale up and bring sizeable returns to the Malaysian economy.

Gobi’s co-founder and chairman, Thomas G. Tsao stated Allianz Malaysia is among the very few corporations that has been at the forefront in driving digital innovation in Malaysia.  

“As one of the earliest regional VCs to set up shop in Malaysia, Gobi is very proud to have them on board among our key LPs, ” he additional.

“We believe that both the finance and the portfolio companies will benefit considerably from Allianz’s environment locally here in Malaysia as well as globally, ” Tsao said.

Allianz Malaysia Berhad chief executive officer, Sean Wang (pic, above) said Allianz Malaysia’s appetite for electronic change has allowed it to capitalise upon tremendous new opportunities and explore innovation-led collaborations for the last couple of years.  

“Our general insurance plan arm, Allianz Common Insurance Company (Malaysia) Berhad, was an early companion of insurance technology firm PolicyStreet and online property rental platform Speedhome (both established in 2017), which are two of Gobi’s portfolio companies, ” he added.

“So, we are delighted to participate Gobi Partners among their LPs. This is our first expense in a VC, and we look forward to the milestones we can accomplish jointly, ” said Wang.

Since its launch in late 2020, the Gobi SSII Fund has already invested in four Malaysian startups namely the particular innovation arm associated with Sunway Group plus Sunway University, Sunway Innovation Labs; technologies news platform TechNode; Speedhome and PolicyStreet.

Gobi said given the particular early-stage nature of the fund, the Gobi SSII Fund may invest in up to 25 portfolio companies.

The company, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, has raised 15 money to date with US$1. 5 billion (RM6. 85 billion) within assets under management, claimed to have committed to over 320 online companies and nurtured nine unicorns.