Leveraging on the platform’s foundation in Singapore, the company believes that the regional expansion will enable companies and investors to conduct cross-border crowdfunding transactions.
“Looking ahead, an expansion to Malaysia and Indonesia is the next logical step. Many startups and smaller listed-companies aim to expand beyond our shores and by extending our footprint, we will be better positioned to support local businesses in their growth journey,” said Agnes Siaw, Co-Founder and Executive Director, FundedHere.
As per definition, AIs are individuals with at least S$2 million (US$1.5 million) in net personal assets, excluding the primary residence, or S$300,000 in annual income. Until recently, FundedHere was only open to AIs, in accordance with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) guidelines. However, on 17 February 2017, MAS removed this restriction, allowing its platform to be opened up to mass affluent or Professional Investors (PIs).
“The FundedHere platform is attractive to growth companies because of our high- quality network of AIs. The relaxation of rules means that we can now widen our pool of crowdfunding investors to include PIs, which are much larger in number. Interest in crowdfunding is growing in Singapore and are confident to double our investor pool before the end of 2017,” said Daniel Lin, Partner, FundedHere.
Over the past year, FundedHere claims to have helped seven Singapore companies raise a combined S$4 million through its online platform. Of the funds raised, 40% were made through equity investments of between S$300,000 and S$500,000 in startups. The remaining 60% of funds raised were for crowdlending of between S$200,000 and S$2 million to growth companies.
“FundedHere has grown leaps and bounds in the past year. We’ve established a strong foundation within Singapore’s legal framework and have proven that equity and debt-based crowdfunding can be a vital component in Singapore’s ecosystem for startups and growth companies,” added Siaw.
