Maslin Capital, a local alternative investment fund manager, has signed an agreement with California-based venture capital firm DEFTA Partners to finance IT and health-related new ventures.

DEFTA Partners, which is mainly focused on innovative technologies in IT and healthcare, will assist Maslin Capital to raise funds from local and global sources.

It will also provide technical support to the Bangladeshi firm to do equity investment in non-listed companies, and will guide new ventures to be successful, officials said at the agreement signing ceremony in Dhaka on Monday.

“The partnership is aimed at serving the nascent local alternative investment market, which has recently been brought under a regulatory framework by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission,” said Wali-ul-Maroof Matin, co-founder and managing director of Maslin Capital. He said they can contribute to the development of the private sector, the growth engine of the country, with alternative investment tools.

Matin and George Hara, group chairman and chief executive officer of DEFTA Partners, signed the agreement.

Hara said Bangladesh is one of the most potential investment destinations for his company.

Since 1980s, DEFTA Partners has invested in more than 100 companies in the US, the UK, Bangladesh and Japan.

The company said it brings hands-on global expertise to its portfolio companies, enabling them to build up internationally.

In Bangladesh, it works with Brac, the world's largest NGO, in establishing and operating a joint venture, bracNet, an internet service provider, according to DEFTA Partners.