Sunway iLabs, the innovation lab and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) arm of Sunway Group in partnership with Sunway University, has once again been recognised as “Outstanding Corporate VC of the Year” at the Malaysia Private Capital Forum 2026, marking its second consecutive win.
The recognition reflects Sunway iLabs’ unique CVC approach, combining investment with the wider Sunway ecosystem to help entrepreneurs access talent, customers/market, and capital, while enabling solutions to be tested and scaled in real-world settings.
“We really appreciate this recognition from MPCA for what we have built at Sunway iLabs over the years. We like to think of Sunway as a playground for innovation where they can access our ecosystem to experiment, find customers and scale. From Sunway University to our businesses and communities, we have many of the pieces needed to turn ideas into impact. That is Inspire, Build and Scale in action,” said Matt Van Leeuwen, Chief Innovation Officer of Sunway Group and CEO of Sunway iLabs.
This latest recognition builds on a track record of industry accolades from the Malaysia Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (MPCA), including Outstanding Property Development for Startups in 2019, Top Startup Ecosystem in Malaysia in 2020, Outstanding Incubator and Coworking Space in 2021, and Outstanding Corporate VC in 2025.
Sunway, an ecosystem for innovation
As Sunway Group’s gateway into the startup ecosystem, Sunway iLabs connects promising companies and emerging technologies with businesses across the Group. Startups can test solutions, find customers and establish strategic partnerships, while Sunway businesses can discover and adopt new technologies more effectively.
Anchoring this approach is a diverse portfolio of VC funds and direct startup investments, spanning Malaysia, Southeast Asia, the UK, China and Silicon Valley. This gives Sunway both direct and indirect exposure to some of the world’s most prominent, high-growth artificial intelligence (AI) companies across frontier models, embodied AI, enterprise and consumer AI applications, space technology, AI infrastructure, and next-generation computing.
These exposures provide early access to breakthrough technologies, while strengthening Sunway’s pipeline of high-quality investment opportunities, global networks, and direct access to portfolio companies offering technologies that complement existing businesses, address emerging industry challenges or build capabilities that will become increasingly important.
Inspire, Build and Scale
Sunway iLabs’ role begins before a company becomes investment ready.
Through entrepreneurship education at Sunway University, including the award-winning “Paradox of Theron” experiential online game learning platform that develops entrepreneurial skills and mindset, alongside partnerships across Malaysia’s and the global University and startup ecosystems. Sunway iLabs builds a pipeline of future entrepreneurs through programmes such as LaunchX, a Nationwide University Startup Accelerator Programme, help University entrepreneurs translate ideas, research, and technology into commercially scalable businesses.
This reflects Sunway iLabs’ philosophy of Inspire, Build and Scale: inspiring entrepreneurial talent, helping founders build meaningful businesses, and connecting promising companies with the capital, customers and networks needed to scale.
Bridging Global Innovation, Building What’s Next
Looking ahead, Sunway iLabs continue to see significant opportunity across the AI value chain and aims to help Malaysia capture more of that value by building on its experience in venture investing, entrepreneurship development and corporate innovation.
The same philosophy shapes FutureX Ventures Fest, Sunway iLabs’ annual AI and deep tech conference and Malaysia’s first beachfront tech event. The 2026 edition convened global investment and industry leaders for knowledge exchange and cross-border collaboration, supporting Malaysia’s broader ambitions in AI, startups and emerging technologies.
This aligns with Malaysia’s broader ambitions under Malaysia Digital 2030 (MD2030) and the National AI Action Plan 2026–2030, which place emphasis on innovation, technology adoption and growing the digital economy’s contribution to national GDP.
In 2027, Sunway iLabs marks a decade of contribution to Malaysia’s startup and innovation ecosystem. As part of the 10th anniversary milestone, FutureX Ventures Fest will return in Q2 2027, bringing together technology leaders, investors, corporates, founders and policymakers at the intersection of innovation, market access and capital.