In my previous posting, Investing in entertainment: A Myth, I shared my takes on investment in entertainment in Malaysia. The grants or soft investment provided the government, in my opinion, probably would be a good start. However, to label them as the main mode to spur the industry perhaps would be too soon.
I think it is about time to have venture capitalists and private equity firms to step into the multi-billion entertainment industry. They should be able to identify suitable investee companies whose entertainment related projects meet their investment strategy.
Despite the introduction of Bank Simpanan Nasional's Creative Investment Loan and MyCreative Ventures, they do not fit the functions played by venture capitalists and private equity firms. In fact, the inception of such modes is not widely available to private investors, high net worth individuals or even general public to assess uncapped upside potential growth in the industry. The circulation is still in the disbursement mode.
On the same note, two weeks ago, I met several venture capital firms weighing up on the feasibility to set up a dedicated fund to invest in media or perhaps telecoms as well. The discussion is still on going especially in relation to investment criteria, business model and fund structure that general public might be interested in.
In essence, media sector will include film production, live entertainment (concerts), television production, general media investment, cinema, advertising & marketing services, broadcasting, enabling technologies, fashion, online media, music and outdoor advertising.
Ideally, the fund structure should offer a minimum investment, say RM10,000 that suitable for personal and private investors. The fund should be invested in unquoted companies or private companies in the Asia region. Normally, the realisations of investment in entertainment may reach up to 3 to 3.5 years in which the investors will not have access to their capital from the date of application.
At this stage, I would not too keen on, not against, crowd funding platforms especially that based in South East Asia or Asia region. Wujudkan, Patungan.net, PitchIn, 8squirrels, ToGather.asia, Firecracker and Spark Facility, ArtisteConnect.com, +嘖嘖 zeczec, Nboon.com and ZaoZao. Although crowd funding platforms offer specific projects like ZaoZao on indie fashion start up in Hong Kong, the essence of social and philanthropic is not yet a trend, unfortunately.
