Crowdo (investment.crowdo.com), one of the largest and fastest growing crowdfunding platforms in South East Asia, announced the successful completion of its first Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) offer in Malaysia, raising RM 2.64 million through its platform.
The Issuer, The Parenthood, launched its Offer in early March with a minimum base target of RM1.05 million and within 17 days it had surpassed this threshold, going on to reach a target achievement of 250%. This marks the first successful ECF offer in Malaysia, and the largest and the most successful fundraiser in SE. Asia.
Said Crowdo’s Co-Founder and CEO Leo Shimada (pix): “We are very proud of this outcome. Our Malaysia platform is Crowdo’s ECF showcase. The Parenthood is a high potential Malaysia business run by very experienced entrepreneurs. This result is a vote of confidence that ECF can indeed positively impact the financing activities of Malaysia Startups and SMEs.”
“If we look at other mature ECF markets, their journey started off with much smaller fundraising sizes. Malaysia has managed to deliver a millionaire offer in just a few months – other markets have taken years to achieve the same outcome. I strongly believe that this is evidence that with the right kind of progressive regulations, ECF operator capabilities, the massive potential that ECF holds for the Malaysia market is now being realised. Crowdo has a very robust pipeline of Issuers, and we will be making an announcement shortly about wedding.com.my which will be the region’s first venture capital (VC) quality offer”.
Speaking about his experience with ECF and working with Crowdo, The Parenthood’s CEO, Leroy Lee commented: “My experience with Crowdo was excellent. They provided us with professional advice and guidance throughout our crowdfunding project, giving us the access to their user friendly website for registration and enquiries and they are very professional in managing the entire Parenthood portfolio. I would suggest to any SME company to look into Crowdo as a partner and also as a platform to increase their business capital.”
This news coincides with Crowdo’s announcement of its acquisition of its provisional capital market services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The CMS license will allow Crowdo to offer both debt and equity crowdfunding solutions in Singapore.
Said Shimada: “We have been in business since 2013 and have grown from strength to strength. I see our multi-market licensing and operational presence as an invaluable competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded, yet nascent industry. Each of our markets is important and unique. Singapore is our home market, and passing the rigorous standards of the regulators there will give our investors additional assurance that we mean business. Malaysia is our showcase and I am immensely proud of my team there, having achieved a ground-breaking fundraising record with the first offer. As for our latest market – Indonesia – I see it as our growth engine and I am very optimistic about the growth prospects of peer to peer lending there”.
Speaking about its plans for Malaysia: “Malaysia is a priority market for Crowdo and we will continue to expand our business and build up our local team. The Securities Commission of Malaysia has recently announced its peer to peer lending framework. Crowdo will of course be applying for this license so that its Malaysia clients can also benefit from Crowdo’s peer to business lending operator expertise.”
