KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 -- Despite several initiatives and milestones by the government to spur the local startup scene, online used car trading platform Carsome remains the country's only unicorn - a private startup that is valued at over US$1 billion (RM4.8 billion).

With Singapore still leading the region while Indonesia and Thailand are inching closer, the two-day KL20 Summit starting today aims at propelling Malaysia into the world's top 20 startup hub by 2030 up from the current top 50 - just six years away.

This requires a paradigm shift, and according to Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli, Putrajaya has pivoted from its old strategy of merely chasing local unicorns.

Instead, Malaysia now aims to attract startups from all across th...