Cradle Fund

Day 3 at VivaTech Paris placed Malaysia in two important conversations.

In the morning, our Group CEO, Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, spoke at Business France’s Southeast Asia Forum, held at the French Senate in the historic Palais du Luxembourg.

He joined the panel “Innovation / Tech: What strategies can help conquer Southeast Asia and contribute to its digital revolution?”, where he shared how Cradle supports startups moving into Malaysia and ASEAN, as well as Malaysian startups looking beyond our borders.

The discussion focused on one key point.

To grow across Southeast Asia, startups need more than ambition. They need the right partners, market access, local understanding and stronger bridges between ecosystems.

For Malaysia, this means deepening collaboration across ASEAN while building stronger links with Europe, so founders, investors, corporates and ecosystem players can create real commercial pathways together.

In the afternoon, Norman returned to VivaTech for “The Great Tech Race: Regulating Innovation in a Multipolar World”, where the conversation centred on how countries balance innovation, regulation, trust and competitiveness as technology moves across borders.

Day 3 reinforced Cradle’s role in a wider mission.

To help position Malaysia as a gateway for startups, capital, partnerships and innovation between ASEAN and the global market.

Day 2 at VivaTech Paris showed how countries are positioning their startups on the global stage.

Across the halls, ecosystem booths from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa were not only showcasing startups. They were showing how each market supports founders through funding, market access, corporate partnerships, talent and national innovation initiatives.

For Malaysia, this is an important view.

Global platforms like VivaTech help us understand how other ecosystems build visibility, attract capital and create pathways for startups to scale beyond their home markets.

On the investment front, our Group CEO, Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, and Johnathan Lee, SVP, Group Strategy & Special Projects, met with one of France’s leading private equity and investment firms with a strong presence in Asia to explore potential areas of collaboration.

Cradle also joined the networking session for Europe’s Most Innovative Companies Award, hosted by EY and Fortune, where innovation was seen across different sectors, including technology, travel, hospitality, retail and more.

Day 2 reinforced one clear point.

Startup ecosystems compete through visibility, access and strong connections.

Cradle remains focused on building those bridges so Malaysian and ASEAN startups can be seen, understood and connected to the right opportunities.

Global conversations matter when they create new pathways for founders.

At VivaTech Paris, the energy on the ground was clear, with country booths, startup showcases, ecosystem pavilions and conversations happening across every corner of the event.

Cradle’s Group CEO, Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke and Johnathan Lee, SVP, Group Strategy & Special Projects, engaged with leading innovation and venture ecosystem players to better understand how global startup hubs are supporting founders, scaling companies and connecting capital across markets.

A key discussion with Bpifrance explored growing interest in Malaysian and ASEAN startups, particularly as investment attention continues to expand across Asia.

Engagements with Station F and Le Village also provided valuable perspectives on how mature ecosystems structure founder support, corporate innovation, partnership models and market access opportunities.

For Malaysia, these conversations are important.

They help strengthen our view of what founders need to compete beyond local markets and how ecosystem builders create stronger bridges between startups, corporates, investors and global partners.

As Malaysia continues to position itself as a gateway to ASEAN, Cradle remains focused on building the right connections to support startups with wider visibility, stronger partnerships and regional growth opportunities.

Semoga tahun baharu Hijrah ini menjadi titik permulaan untuk melangkah dengan lebih berani, memperkukuh azam dan mencipta impak yang bermakna. Di Cradle, kami percaya setiap langkah kecil hari ini mampu menjadi asas kepada inovasi dan kejayaan masa hadapan.

Selamat Menyambut Awal Muharam 1448H, semoga tahun ini membawa keberkatan, kesejahteraan dan peluang baharu buat semua.

Opening doors into Southeast Asia starts with the right room.

Today, Cradle hosted the Scaleups Pitching Session for the SEA Enterprise Tech Launchpad, bringing together enterprise tech scaleups from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to explore market access opportunities in Malaysia and the wider region.

The session began with a market access sharing by Cradle, followed by an introduction to GUIDE and Big Sky Capital.

Scaleups that pitched:

* RoadOne
Helping fleet operators and transporters curb fuel expense fraud.

* Onay Oqu
Supporting universities and colleges through IP pedagogy and AI tutor solutions.

* BEST Vision
Using visual technology, CCTV networks, helmet cameras, and AI systems to improve safety and operational excellence in heavy industries.

* RockRigid
Providing oil and gas production data analytics to improve production accuracy and output.

For the scaleups, it was a chance to test their solutions with the Malaysian ecosystem.

For our invited startups, investors, and university partners and ecosystem players, it was a space to connect with regional companies, exchange perspectives, and explore possible business opportunities.

This is why market access matters.

It helps founders move beyond interest and into real conversations with the people who understand the market, the customers, and the path to growth.

Thank you GUIDE Ecosystem, the participating scaleups and ecosystem players who joined us at Cradle.

A BIG thank you to CelcomDigi for hosting Cradle at Logistics Redefined, an industry engagement programme for warehousing and logistics players!

Another one of our champion corporates, CelcomDigi is redefining Malaysia’s logistics landscape by addressing the growing need for more resilient and cost-effective supply chains, the team has transformed warehouse operations from largely manual processes into a 5G-powered, AI-driven ecosystem.

Through the BIG Programme, CelcomDigi has successfully piloted a suite of advanced solutions including AI-Powered Inventory Management, AI-Powered Visual Surveillance, Warehouse Management System (WMS), Autonomous Pallet Shuttle, 5G SA-Powered Automated Guided Vehicle & Digital Twin Warehouse Intelligence in collaboration with startups and solution providers.

This initiative reflects a strong commitment to driving end-to-end digital transformation, leveraging 5G, AI and robotics to enhance operational efficiency while contributing to Malaysia’s Digital Economy Blueprint and strengthening national supply chain resilience.

CelcomDigi’s journey is a powerful example of how corporates can lead with purpose, turning bold ideas into scalable, real-world impact through innovation.

A special shoutout to Ginny Phuah, Head of Innovation - Partnership & Ecosystem and Eric Teh, Head of IR4.0 & Data Insights for their strong leadership and commitment in driving these innovation efforts forward.

We’re excited to see how this continues to evolve because this is what it looks like when BIG innovation meets real-world connectivity and intelligence.

Cradle LIVE! Open Day brought together founders, innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs for a day of learning, networking and practical startup insights.

Participants explored the MYStartup ecosystem, Cradle’s grants offerings, investment readiness through ELEVATE and key legal considerations for startup growth. The session concluded with 1-to-1 consultations, giving attendees the opportunity to receive direct guidance from the Cradle team.

Thank you everyone who joined us. We look forward to supporting more startup journeys ahead.