Jelawang Capital secured by Malaysia’s First Move to support AI developers

Malaysian founder-led venture capital firm First Move announced on Tuesday that Jelawang Capital, a division of Khazanah Nasional, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, would serve as the anchor of its newest fund.

The milestone is a turning point in First Move’s mission to support and develop Southeast Asia’s next generation of builders, with a particular emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI)-native startups, the company said in a statement.

As artificial intelligence (AI) revolutionizes the way businesses are founded, scaled, and run, First Move is placing its money on a new generation of entrepreneurs—domain experts and product-focused developers who use AI as a tactical tool to spur quick innovation and expansion.

“AI has changed the equation. We no longer ask how big the team is. We ask how sharp the founder is, and how effectively they use AI,

“This fund is about backing these builders early and helping them turn conviction into scalable, category-defining companies,” said Joel Neoh, Founding Partner at First Move.

Notably, First Move has backed 24 startups in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand in just two years, making it one of Southeast Asia’s most active early-stage investors.

First check investments in high-output founders in AI, healthtech, fintech, enterprise automation, climate, consumer brands, and other high-impact industries are the fund’s area of expertise. Results from that thesis are already being seen.

Carta’s Q1 2025 benchmarks, which monitor more than 1,700 global venture funds, place First Move’s debut fund in the top 1% worldwide for its 2023 vintage, with a multiple on invested capital (MOIC) of 2.4 times.

Decube, a platform for data observability and governance; Welling.ai, a companion for AI-powered nutrition and weight loss; Ourteam.ai, an AI-native hiring platform for tech and AI talent; Shieldbase.ai, an AI operating system for businesses to automate knowledge and workflows; and 3cat, an electronics circular commerce infrastructure, are among its portfolio companies.

In the third quarter of 2025, First Move will launch a dedicated AI co-building platform to co-create category-defining startups with visionary CEOs and top regional talent, with Jelawang Capital serving as the anchor for its next chapter.

“We’re entering into a new era of company creation,

“Our builder platform allows us to partner from day zero; combining capital, technical talent, and deep domain expertise to build AI-native companies from the ground
up,” said Audra Pakalnyte, General Partner at First Move.

Strong institutional support for First Move’s operator-led, hands-on investment approach is demonstrated by its inclusion in the Jelawang Capital Emerging Manager Program (EMP).

“We began with a systems-driven approach to ecosystem building and, through the Emerging Fund Managers’ Program (EMP), we are excited to support the next generation of Malaysian fund managers – while deepening the pipeline of quality founders shaping our future economy,” said Hisham Hamdan, Chairman of Jelawang Capital.