Malaysia has made history with new local company ALPS Global Holding Bhd (ALPS) achieving unicorn status, according to Malaysia’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Chan Lee Kang.
“I am proud to announce that ALPS is the first domestic biotechnology company to reach this milestone. The company is expected to list on Nasdaq in the fourth quarter of this year at an enterprise valuation of approximately $1.6 billion,” he said in a LinkedIn post on Friday.
Chan said the achievement is in line with one of the key goals of the National Biotechnology Policy 2.0, which aims to create three bio-innovation companies with unicorn status by 2030.
He said ALPS is the second Malaysian company to achieve unicorn status after Carsome Sdn Bhd, which also achieved unicorn status in 2021. A unicorn is a start-up company with a total valuation of over $1 billion.
The ALPS Global Holding Bhd (ALPS) group is a fully integrated biotechnology research, medical and health services company, according to the company’s Linkedin post. ALPS’s business is based on the recognition that the use of human cells as therapeutic entities will drive one of the next most significant stages in medicine and health.
Meanwhile, the National Bioeconomy Expo 2024 also saw the exchange of 11 memorandums of understanding worth a total of about RM1.5 billion, highlighting the strengthening of Malaysia’s biotechnology industry.
With the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Bioeconomy Corporation has supported over 520 biotech and bio-based companies.
This includes companies with BioNexus status, participants in the Biobased Accelerator (BBA) programme and companies involved in high-impact biotechnology projects across Malaysia.
Chan said the companies had recorded impressive results, with a cumulative investment of RM14.3 billion approved and contributing RM37.5 billion to the national economy.
This marks an important step for the global growth and competitiveness of Malaysia’s biotechnology and bio-based industry, he noted.
In a statement in January, ALPS Global Holding Bhd, a company incorporated under Malaysian laws, and Globalink Investment Inc, a listed special acquisition company, said they had entered into a definitive merger agreement.
According to the statement, Alps aims to become a successful company locally, regionally and globally by transforming and strengthening Alps’ value chain as an integrated biotech, medical and wellness group by building a one-stop upstream and downstream biotech platform.
Upon completion of the transactions contemplated in the merger agreement, the combined company is expected to be named “Alps Life Sciences Co., Ltd.” and to be listed on the NASDAQ.
Credit Suisse recognised AirAsia Digital as a technology unicorn, alongside Carsome and Axiata’s edotco.
