CYBERJAYA: The Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) has launched an RM80mil "preseed" funding programme for technopreneurs.

The Technopreneurs Pre-Seed Fund kicked off on Dec 20 with the announcement of the first batch of five projects which received a total of RM700,000.

"Pre-seed" funding provides grants to companies developing their ideas into prototype products, compared to seed funding which is provided by venture capitalists to companies that have already prototyped their product and are looking to bring it to market.

MDeC's Pre-Seed Fund is for technopreneurs working in creative multimedia development, Internet-based businesses, software development, hardware design, support services, and shared-services outsourcing, according to MDeC chief executive Badlisham Ghazali.

Half the fund is reserved for projects run by Bumiputras.

In addition to getting up to RM150,000 in conditional grants, technopreneurs would also benefit from MDeC's development services, and access to shared laboratory facilities at 10 Multimedia Super Corridor incubators located around the country provided through MDeC's Technopreneur Development Scheme, Badlisham said.

"It is MDeC's long-term objective to build up the companies running these projects into MSC status companies," he said.

First recipients

The first five projects to receive Technopreneurs Pre-Seed Fund grants were Talentsoft Talent Management Suite, which received RM106,500; the LegalOffice law practice management software, which received RM150,000; the SMSBicara voice portal for teaching and learning the Quran, which received RM150,000; the PixPocket Web-based service for the property industry, which received RM150,000; and the Blu- Wireless Bluetooth-based data storage product, which received RM146,000.

Badlisham said another eight project proposals had been rejected by the evaluation committee, which consisted of representatives from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, the Entrepreneur Development Ministry and a number of ICT bodies like the Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) and the Association of the ICT Industry Malaysia (Pikom).

The evaluation committee met once a month to consider applications for funding, Badlisham added.

In his address at the Technopreneurs Pre- Seed Fund Programme launch, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Jamaludin Jarjis said the Fund would help develop a "total ecosystem" for developing the ICT industry.

He said it would help bridge the gap between existing programmes for funding scientific research and development programme which generated knowledge, and seed funding from venture capitalists which funded the introduction of fullydeveloped products to market.

But such programmes must be measured not by how much money was given out to technopreneurs, but by their results in terms of creating products for the national and global markets, Jamaludin said.

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