FundedHere launches FundedX

By Digital News Asia August 1, 2018

Facilitate the trading of shares for private companies, startups
Aims to boost liquidity and open doors for investors to SEA’s private market

FundedHere launches FundedX

SINGAPORE-based crowdfunding platform, FundedHere, announced on July 31 the launch of FundedX, a new private stock exchange to facilitate the trading of shares of high-growth startups and privately-held companies in Southeast Asia.

FundedHere plans to establish FundedX as an exchange platform that will radically transform Southeast Asia’s private markets by creating new opportunities for investors and providing much needed liquidity for shareholders of privately-held companies in the region.

Typically, in the fragmented secondary sales market, the process of buying and selling shares can be quite tedious as individual parties have to connect directly with intermediaries, company secretaries and share registrars.

FundedX aims to remove this friction by supporting the end-to-end process from connecting companies to a global investor base, to assessing shareholders and interested buyers, to taking on administrative burdens, and providing the transaction framework.

To further enhance the transaction process, FundedHere also has plans to incorporate smart contracts powered by blockchain technology into the process for a safer and more cost-efficient trade.

Through FundedX, legacy shareholders such as ex-employees and early investors can monetise their returns.

Employees with stock options seeking partial liquidity can also submit verification of ownership to participate on the exchange. Interested investors can submit buy requests which will be processed through FundedX’s algorithm to match transactions.

Once shareholders and investors are paired on the platform, the company, whose shares are being transacted, will then need to approve the sale and deal terms for the transaction go through. FundedX aims to have end-to-end process completed within two weeks.

FundedHere co-founder and executive director Daniel Lin, said: “FundedX is a game changer that will help to bring much needed liquidity to the private market. We see this new platform as a complementary and natural extension of FundedHere’s current offering that will support yet another key stage of the funding cycle for emerging companies.”

FundedHere has obtained prior regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2016 as the first crowdfunding player in Singapore to be awarded a Capital Markets Service License, allowing the company to deal with securities.

The company disclosed that it has already received interest from several investors, companies and shareholders throughout Southeast Asia to participate on the platform, and plans to go live with its first transaction within three months.

Grab Financial Group senior managing director Reuben Lai, said: “No one has created a private exchange that is able to deal with the logistical challenges that come with dealing with many shareholders and investors of a company.

“FundedX has not only found practical solutions to enable the buying and selling of shares in private companies, but also done so on a regulated and transparent platform that boosts investor confidence.”