Narrowing Funding Gaps For Malaysian SMEs And Investors

Fundnel, a regional private investment platform, partners with CapitalBay, a multi-bank supply chain finance financing platform, to augment the financing ecosystem in Malaysia with the aim to facilitate fundraising activities for businesses through their online platforms while opening up access to private market investment opportunities for everyday investors.

Fundnel entered Malaysia in 2018, to power local businesses through a cost and time effective financing method, while offering select primary and secondary investment opportunities in growth and pre-IPO stage businesses and funds, locally and overseas for the company’s network of 11,000 investors.

According to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) 2018 Annual Report , the Malaysian capital market continued to play a key role in fueling the economy against a backdrop of challenging global market conditions.

Alternative financing channels, namely venture capital, private equity, equity crowdfunding (ECF), and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing, raised RM808.4 million (USD 197.7 million) in funding, illustrating the private capital market’s ability to play a significant role in fulfilling the requirements of underserved businesses particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Mohd Fuaad, Country Director, Malaysia, Fundnel said, “Alternative financing and investment in Malaysia is fairly nascent, relative to the other markets that we operate in where it has become the avenue of choice for fundraisers and investors. Considering the supportive regulatory framework, we are optimistic that the local market will continue on this positive growth trajectory. Today, more companies are choosing to stay private for longer because they can tap into private market with ease, through ECF and P2P platforms — which comes at a fraction of what it would have cost if they had pursued a public listing.”

Ang Xing Xian, Co-founder and CEO, CapitalBay, commented, “By joining hands with a reputable partner like Fundnel, we gain strength in numbers. Pulling together our resources has amplified our outreach efforts — we were able to educate the residents of Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak, on ECF and P2P as alternative investment channels. The two-month roadshow was incredibly well-received, allowing us to meet close to 300 new investors. We are certain this partnership can help narrow the funding gap by providing an alternative source of capital for businesses.”

CapitalBay also chose to work with Fundnel for its own equity fundraising effort, for the launch of the CapitalBay P2P platform. CapitalBay garnered overwhelming response from local investors and had received a collective commitment of RM1.3 million from 55 individuals, surpassing its campaign target of RM1 million.

Fundnel and CapitalBay are registered Recognised Market Operators under the Securities Commission Malaysia.

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