- programs to recruit students from UMT to make investments in the businesses
- PitchIN’s motivation to get as many institutions as possible on panel
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s ( UMT ) wholly-owned subsidiary UMT Jaya Holdings Sdn Bhd ( UMTJ) signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Pitch Platforms Sdn Bhd ( pitchIN ) last week to help UMT’s spin-offs to raise funds through the equity crowdfunding (ECF ) platform.
UMT is the first to fully agree to work with us, focusing on boosting purchases made by UMT instructors and individuals into spin-off companies, according to Sam Shafie, CEO of PitchIN.
With colleges having their own domestic processes, various that pitchIN has engaged with are in the final phases of agreeing to a related association, such as Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi Petronas.
Dr Ahmad Ramzi Mohamad Zubir, CEO of UMTJ said that the school’s intellectual property investment comprises patents, business designs, technology utilities, trademarks, custom rights, and industry secrets that are ripe for commercialisation. In 2023 alone, UMT registered a total of 60 intellectual property assets, including 40 products as proprietary rights, 13 as trade secrets, four registered patents, with the three others under other categorizations of intellectual property.
These university intellectual assets are still significantly underused and not producing commercial returns, which is a loss for UMT and the country as a whole, as is common throughout academia in Malaysia.
Therefore, partnering and co-operating with universities makes sense, and we’ve been trying to do this for a long time, but the bureaucracy was very cumbersome until I met Ramzi, Sam said.
PitchIN-UMT partner campaign and targeting , alumni as potential investors
Through this agreement, UMTJ will serve as a bridge linking UMT’s spin-offs with potential investors via the pitchIN platform.
” Those spin-off companies will later be featured on our microsites ( partner campaigns ) on PitchIN, where partners like the university will curate the companies they select for fundraising on the platform”, Sam said.
In the case of UMT, all spin-offs will be housed under its own microsite. Additionally, PitchIN intends to work with UMT to engage its alumni and introduce them to investment opportunities offered by their alma mater.
The firstgroup of companies UTM is considering consist , of spin-offs focusing on renewable energy, green hydrogen, and oil and gas industry.
A company with an oil & gas focus and two researchers who created an oil-absorbent material was chosen as the first candidate for listing. Ramzi criticized the founders for being among the top 1 % of world researchers, denying their claim to own the business.
” We’re going to pitch for funding and also go for the secondary market as well”, he added, referring to pitchIN’s secondary ECF trading market ( PSTX ) which went live on July 10, which , allows people to trade shares of companies that have raised funding on the platform.
We’ll try to get the company listed before the end of Q3 or the beginning of Q4, according to Sam, because we’re going to begin our due diligence and compliance on the company soon. We’re also aiming to encourage institutional investors to make an investment in this business.
The spin-offs of UMT will be guided by Fundraising Accelerator ( FA ), a startup initiative launched by pitchIN Academy in October 2022, as part of the MoA. For its spinoff founders to successfully raise money, FA will provide the necessary guidance and skills.
What’s next for pitchIN ,
With over 177 successful ECF campaigns and more than US$ 69.6 million ( RM325 million ) raised for issuers in Malaysia, what’s next for pitchIN, industry observers have wondered.
” Well, we have no immediate plans for listing as we still have a long way to go”, said Sam, sharing that the revenue target for this year is US$ 429, 000 ( RM2 million ).