#Asia Fundnel officially launches investment fundraising platform

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Six startups have already been successfully funded on this Singapore-based platform, amounting to a total of US$5 million

The Fundnel team

The Fundnel team

Singapore-based collaborative investment platform Fundnel Limited has announced the official launch of its online marketplace covering investment opportunities in sectors such as technology, consumer and retail, healthcare and education.

Startups on the platform can choose from four fundraising models including – Equity, convertible bonds, debt and revenue sharing.

“After nine months of dedicated testing and product iterations, we are pleased to introduce the beta version of our platform. Our aim is to get the rest of the population reinvested into real businesses around us again,” said Kelvin Lee, Co-founder of Fundnel said.

Fundnel has successfully completed six equity and revenue-sharing deals worth approximately US$5 million on the platform since its soft launch in early 2015. These startups are based in multiple geographies across Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

These projects include Hong Kong-based on-demand tutor startup Snapask, which raised US$1.8 million through the equity fundraising method.

e27 has reached out to Fundnel for comment.

Here are the edited excerpts:

What setbacks or obstacles did Fundnel have to overcome, or are in the process of tackling, given that crowdfunding is still a fairly new concept to Asia and regulations regarding investments have not adapted to this new paradigm?

With regards to the label of ‘crowdfunding’; many associate it with rewards-based funding the way of kickstarter does it, whilst Fundnel trying to move away from that domain and into the realm of a true alternative investment class.

Also, the low level of awareness in the market means that a large proportion of our target segment (i.e. Accredited Investors) may not actually even be aware of their investor status. The challenge is in creating awareness through education

On the regulations front, we’re keeping abreast by aligning with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s perspective, and we’re waiting in the wings for new developments to happen within this segment.

What other projects does Fundnel have in the pipeline?

Aside from the current deal mix on the platform, we are also gearing towards consumer-facing deals (for example retail, F&B etcetera) with mass participation via revenue share investments. We are also expanding our deal sourcing activities to include India and Greater China.

Does Fundnel plan to raise any funds?

We prefer not to disclose this information, however as with any growing business, if there are strategic investors or viable funding we are always open to consider.

Also, Fundnel aligns ourselves more with “investment fundraising” rather than “crowdfunding”. We also provide more than just equity fundraising and include debt, convertible bonds, rewards-based and even revenue-share. Revenue-share is a relatively new concept in Asia and we are one of the pioneers of this investment option.

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