RM10.4m raised from equity crowdfunding in less than a year

PETALING JAYA: The equity crowd funding (ECF) segment managed to raise a total of RM10.41 million for 14 businesses in the first year of its operationalisation, according to the SC.
“We expect to witness more continued growth as the investing public and potential MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) issuers become increasingly aware of this new innovative financing avenue,” the regulator said in its 2016 annual report.
To date, Kakitangan.com holds the record as the fastest to meet its minimum funding target (RM1.55 million raised in one day with a 10% equity).
The Parenthood, through Crowdo’s platform, raised RM2.65 million. This was also the largest amount raised through the ECF platform in Malaysia.
Through the FundedbyMe platform, Halal Speed Dating managed to attract the largest investments by foreign investors in a particular deal, which amounted to 25%.
The Malaysian ECF market has attracted foreign investors from Asutralia, Finland, Germany, Singapore, Sweden and Turkey.
Last year, the SC also registered six P2P operators, which are expected to be fully operational in 2017.
The first P2P operator, Funding Societies, was launched last month.
ECF is targeted at MSMEs seeking early-stage financing, P2P financing is targeted to help MSMEs raise working capital or capital for growth.