Contrary to public perception, mobile developers have plenty of options for funding.

We oftentimes hear complaints about there being no sources of funding or not enough funding for development of multimedia content and applications for PCs, the Internet and mobile phones.

When this question was posed to Rostam Hashim, head of the Maxis Developer Programme, he said the truth is far different and that there have never been so many funding options for mobile developers as there are currently. “The government is serious about making content development a major industry in this country and various agencies and bodies are making a concerted push to grow this industry.”

We took up the challenge to explore funding options for mobile developers.

Networked Content Development Grant
On 10 July, 2007, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) unveiled its Networked Content Development Grant totaling RM20 million to fund mobile and TV content development.

This comes out of the MCMC’s own pocket, out of the RM200 million it collected in spectrum license fees from the four 3G operators.

The focus is particularly on funding development of information, educational, e-commerce and entertainment applications and content. Applicants are selected based on the unique value proposition and business potential of their content and their operational capability to complete the project.

Content Industry Development Fund
Under the 9th Malaysia plan, the Government had allocated a total of RM150 million towards funding digital multimedia content development from 2006 to 2010.

Under its Content Industry Development Fund (eContent Fund), the Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) has allocated RM25 million this year alone. The MCMC can also assist technopreneurs obtain funds under this scheme.

The eContent Fund addresses development of the same types of content for mobile phones, PDAs and PC as the MCMC’s fund. Details are available at MOSTI’s website, www.mosti.gov.my.

MSC Malaysia funding
The Multimedia Development Corporation’s (MDeC) is responsible for managing and disbursing the total of RM120 million allocated by the government under the MSC Malaysia R&D Grant Scheme (MGS) to help catalyse and nurture a competitive cluster of Malaysian ICT/multimedia companies.

To qualify, companies must have valid MSC Malaysia-Status, be at least 51% Malaysian owned certification and fulfill the location requirements of MSC Malaysia status, and they must not have received any government research & development grant previously. Mobile is a key area of focus for MDeC and mobile developers are encouraged to apply for funds from MDeC..

MDeC also provides grants, like its MSC Creative Multimedia Content Initiative grant and its MDeC IP Creative Challenge series.

These are available for creators of creative multimedia, mobile and e-learning content, animation, game, film making, post production, virtual reality simulation and IT solutions.

MDeC will consider applications based on applicants’ willingness to go beyond animation to include the business and commercial aspects of their products as well.

Cradle
Cradle (www.cradle.com.my) is a government programme of the Ministry of Finance, which is administered by Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad (MAVCAP) to stimulate the growth of local technopreneurs and the generation of ideas for an innovative and knowledge-based society.

The programme nurtures entrepreneurs in information and communications technology, biotechnology and high growth or new growth areas with interesting, innovative ideas or technologies from the birth of an idea up to its potential to commercialisation.

It provides up to RM50,000 for the development of prototype, proof of concept or business plan, and to make an idea more valuable to venture capital and later stage funders.

Further information on application procedures is available on its website at www.mavcap.com.

Malaysia Debt Ventures
Startup or established ICT companies with a project in hand but requiring funds to implement may want to consider MDV (www.debtventures.com), the recently re-branded identity of Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd.

MDV was established in 2002 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ministry of Finance, Inc. as a financier and development facilitator, it was entrusted with managing an RM1.6 billion soft loan from the Government of Japan via the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to provide term loans worth above RM2 million to companies in the ICT and high-growth sectors which have a project in hand.

By 30 August, 2006, MDV has approved a total of 137 applications valued at about RM2 billion.

MDV looks at the strength of the project in hand, the technical feasibility and the management’s capability to implement the project profitably.

Also, unlike angel investors and venture capitalists who generally fund small startup companies, MDV’s clients needn’t be small and could be well-established companies like telcos, provided they have a secured a contract to implement a viable project.

MDV is also open to funding an open-ended project, where a provider has agreed with operator to share profits from sales of its application, content or service after the project has been implemented.

Judging from the above examples, Rostam is right. There have never been so many funding options previously open to mobile developers. Since the government has made the mobile content industry a major area of focus, mobile developers have very good chances to secure funding. However, they will need to develop strong financially viable ideas as fund managers will only back projects that are likely to succeed.

“It all then boils down to what MDP has been saying all along,” says Rostam, “That mobile developers need to be innovative, and have strong end-to-end know how, as in technical, creativity, and business skills. When the right mix of skills is present in a company, funding will never really be a problem.”

The Maxis Developer Programme was set up to prepare and nurture mobile developers so that they can eventually be ready for funding or commercialization.