Fundaztic to fill the RM80 Billion Funding Gap to SMEs: Malaysian P2P Lending Platform

Fundaztic.com made its debut on the peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform  with a low entry barrier investment of RM50 (12USD), and is now expecting to draw investors to fund more than 500 micro and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and startups within the first year of operations to reach a funding goal of RM40 million.

Fundaztic.com went ‘live’ exactly two months ago on July 7^th 2017, by hosting five investment notes for SMEs and startups with total funding amounting RM530,000. The first issuer hosted, reached its funding target of RM20,000 through investments from a total of 37 investors within the first four hours of being “hosted” on the platform. .

Fundaztic which is a fintech (financial technology) start-up, is one of the six P2P financial platforms that is licensed as a Recognised Market Operator (P2P Financing) by the Securities Commission of Malaysia.

Malaysia is the first country in ASEAN to come up with full regulatory framework and guidelines to regulate this promising alternative funding and investment platform.

Fundaztic is founded by a group of prominent ex-bankers and a lawyer. It is a company with a paid-up capital of RM5 million and other shareholders include Mezzanine Ventures Sdn Bhd which is held 100% by Amcorp Capital Markets Sdn Bhd, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amcorp Group Berhad and Dato’ Teo Chiang Quan in his personal capacity.

As of end August 2017, Fundaztic hosted 14 investment notes on its website, with a total funding campaign of RM1.7million and have disbursed RM720,000 towards the eight investment notes which have been fully funded. Two new notes were “hosted” today and currently, in total, there are five notes which are in the fundraising process.

“Fundaztic is not just a functional platform but also one with an array of unique propositions that would propel the platform towards market leadership and dominance,”

said Kristine Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Peoplender Sdn Bhd which manages Fundaztic.

“Our idea is to be unique and different from the other P2P financing sites in the world. For starters, we do not collect deposits upfront from our investors. We even allow everyone to browse for free and explore as much as they want before deciding on their investments,”

she further added.

Fundaztic, as one of the pioneers in P2P financing, is currently working on further enhancements in user experience through the development of a mobile app as well as smart investment features.

It is also working towards strategic collaborations with local financial institutions and related agencies with SMEs developmental agenda to help resolve the financial gap and access to financing faced especially by the micro businesses and start-ups.

Speaking at the official launch of Fundaztic.com, Mr. Jeffrey Chew, Chairman of Peoplender Sdn Bhd said,

“Fundaztic is a new channel that connects smart investors to SMEs and startups directly, thus generating superior return on their investment and leveraging on technology”added Mr Chew.

The platform is designed to be investor friendly, equipped with the simplest and easiest process of tracking one’s investment performance online at anytime and anywhere just by logging in to Fundaztic.com, even at a convenience of smart phones and other mobile devices.

Investors are able to begin the application process by signing up and logging onto the website. Investing via Fundaztic.com is very much like online shopping with the concept of selecting desired notes, entering a desired investment amount and then adding to cart, checking, and finally proceed to payment using FPX (financial process exchange).

Investors would receive the first month’s repayments immediately upon disbursement of a successfully funded note thereby “guaranteeing” that they would not lose everything despite risks involved in the investment.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg