Rafizi Ramli
About Rafizi Ramli
Rafizi Ramli studied electrical engineering at the University of Leeds and qualified as a chartered accountant with the ICAEW. He worked at an audit firm in the UK and then at Petronas from 2003 to 2009. After that he was General Manager of Pharmaniaga and Chief Executive of the Selangor Economic Advisory Office.
He was Member of Parliament for Pandan from 2013 to 2018 and again from 2022. He was Malaysia's Minister of Economy from December 2022 until his resignation in June 2025. He has also been PKR's Strategic Director, Secretary-General and Deputy President, and he founded the whistleblower organisation NOW.
In his own words, he now runs a data startup in Kuala Lumpur. It focuses on AI and machine learning for predictive behavioural modelling. On LinkedIn he says that since 2018 INVOKE has been a data startup that uses data science to build products with predictive analytics.
Crunchbase lists 2 investments, 1 portfolio company, 1 lead investment and 0 exits. Both investments are entries for the same pre-seed round in INVOKE, one of them as lead. Dates and amounts are not shown publicly. Wikipedia reports that INVOKE Malaysia, the election-data organisation, was first funded from his personal seed investment. No other angel deals are documented in the sources found.
His documented AI work is in companies he founded, not in outside startups. INVOKE builds data products with predictive analytics. In July 2018 it began offering data services, and he has written that it later moved to a retail data offering and passed 200 clients.
adnexio is the AI job platform spun out of this work. Its AI recruiter, NEX, interviews and screens candidates and matches them to vacancies. He says he and a team of data scientists and software engineers started building it in September 2018 to address unemployment and human capital development in Malaysia.
No stated investment thesis, stage preference or check size is public. Crunchbase tags him with Asia-Pacific, ASEAN and Southeast Asia, and shows his investor type and stage as hidden. The companies he has built are in data science, predictive analytics, AI-driven recruitment and HR technology in Malaysia. He has said publicly that Malaysia has a shortage of software engineers and data scientists.
- INVOKE: Kuala Lumpur data startup using data science and predictive analytics, which he founded and leads. Crunchbase lists him in its pre-seed round, including as lead; the date is not public.
- adnexio: AI job platform in which NEX interviews and matches candidates. He founded it, and Crunchbase lists it as a sub-organization of INVOKE.
- crunchbase.com/person/rafizi-ramli
- crunchbase.com/organization/adnexio-jobs
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafizi_Ramli
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invoke_Malaysia
- mymp.org.my/p/mohd-rafizi-bin-ramli?locale=en
- vulcanpost.com/684101/rafizi-ramli-startup-adnexio-ai-job-portal
- onlinemarketplaces.com/articles/ai-based-job-matching-platform-adnexio
- my.linkedin.com/posts/rafiziramli_data-digitalmarketing-activity-66795
Investing activity
Rafizi Ramli has made 2 investments according to Crunchbase across 1 portfolio company, and has led 1 round and founded 2 companies.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Rafizi Ramli
Is Rafizi Ramli an active angel investor in AI startups?
Public records show little outside investing. Crunchbase lists 2 investments, both in the INVOKE pre-seed round, which he also founded. No other portfolio companies were found.
What is Rafizi Ramli's check size?
No check size is public, and he has not stated one in the sources found.
What stage and sectors does Rafizi Ramli back?
No stage or sector thesis is public. His own companies are in AI, data science, predictive analytics and recruitment technology, based in Malaysia.
What companies has Rafizi Ramli founded?
Crunchbase lists 2 founded companies. They are INVOKE, a data startup, and adnexio, an AI job platform that he describes as a spin-off.
Is Rafizi Ramli a politician?
Yes. He has been a Member of Parliament for Pandan and was Minister of Economy from December 2022 to June 2025. He is also a chartered accountant and a former Petronas finance executive. Founders should expect his public profile to be largely political.
How can founders contact Rafizi Ramli?
He is public on LinkedIn, X (@rafiziramli) and rafiziramli.com. No investor intake process is published.
Is Rafizi Ramli an angel investor?
Yes. Rafizi Ramli invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 2 investments.
Where is Rafizi Ramli based?
Rafizi Ramli is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Asia.
How can founders reach Rafizi Ramli?
Founders on Lounge can see Rafizi Ramli's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Rafizi Ramli to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.