Gobi Partners, OSK Ventures commit to new SC framework letting retail investors co-invest alongside VCs

The Malaysia Co-Investment Fund's (MyCIF) VC/PE Profit-Sharing Incentive, a Securities Commission Malaysia framework designed to let retail equity-crowdfunding (ECF) investors co-invest alongside institutional venture capital and private equity firms on identical terms, has its first two public commitments. Gobi Partners and OSK Ventures International Bhd have both publicly committed to the framework, and are now actively evaluating deals across their pipelines and in discussions with ECF platform operators — including Pitch Platforms Sdn Bhd (the operator of pitchdeck.my) and 1337 Ventures Sdn Bhd — on structuring the first transactions.

Under the framework, a VC or PE firm leads the deal, invests its own capital, helps structure the transaction and remains involved after the fundraising closes. The ECF platform provides the regulated fundraising infrastructure, investor onboarding, nominee arrangements and campaign management. The two run as one transaction on the same terms.

The deal

The MyCIF framework was established by the Ministry of Finance and is administered by the Securities Commission Malaysia to co-invest in MSMEs and social enterprises alongside private investors via ECF and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platforms. Under the new VC/PE Profit-Sharing Incentive, MyCIF as a co-investor will share 50% of its profits with VC and PE lead investors that successfully deliver exits on these investments. The VC must also invest in the same fundraising round — meaning it has its own capital at risk, and ECF investors come in alongside it on the exact same valuation and terms.

That last point is the structural shift. As Gobi Partners' founder Tsao put it in The Edge's coverage: "Whatever exit Gobi receives, co-investors would receive the same." If Gobi invests in a Series B round of a startup, ECF investors participating in that allocation also receive Series B terms. Same price, same preference stack, same exit rights.

The framework doesn't waive ECF's existing investor limits. Retail investors are still capped at RM 5,000 per single investment and RM 50,000 within a 12-month period. Angel investors can deploy up to RM 500,000 within 12 months. Sophisticated investors are uncapped. Those limits are the regulatory guardrails the framework was built on top of — it doesn't replace them.

Why this matters

Two things at once. First, retail investors get access to institutional-grade terms on rounds they previously could only watch. ECF investors have always had to take the issuer's offered terms; the framework gives them the VC's terms. For a sophisticated investor who has been waiting for a clean Series B co-invest route, this is it.

Second — and more important for the platform side — VC firms now have a friction-light way to top up their rounds with retail capital. The ECF platform handles the onboarding, KYC, cooling-off period, and nominee structure that the VC would otherwise have to build or contract. The fee model is still being worked out — some form of carry may apply, and the usual ECF platform fee is in play — but the structural path from "VC leads a Series B" to "retail comes in alongside on the same terms via an ECF platform" is now operational.

For the Malaysian ECF market — which had been on a slow burn since the 2015 guidelines — this is the first material institutional-credibility upgrade in years. The pitch to founders is now stronger too: ECF can credibly be the retail co-investor leg of an institutional round, not a parallel fundraising channel.

What's next

Gobi and OSKVI are evaluating live pipeline deals. Expect the first closed transactions to be announced in the second half of 2026, with ECF platform operators (Pitch Platforms, 1337 Ventures) processing investor onboarding on the back end. Watch for fee-structure clarity — the carry question is the open variable — and for the next VC firms to publicly commit.

Source: The Edge Malaysia — "Venture Capital: A new way to access VC-backed companies"