Singapore Exchange links with PwC and Crowdo as part of start-ups push
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has signed separate memorandums of understanding (MOU) with Crowdonomic Media (Crowdo) and PwC’s Venture Hub, as part of its drive to facilitate capital access for start-up and early stage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Mohamed Nasser Ismail, head of equity capital market (SME) and head of capital market development, SGX, on Friday said: “As a market operator, we believe our established infrastructure and network can support and improve access to capital for early-stage companies.
“We have been involved in the start-up and early stage SMEs space starting from our partnership with CapBridge, as well as the provision of depository services for FundedHere’s proprietary bonds platform.
“Moving forward, we will continue to work with relevant like-minded stakeholders to facilitate better access to expertise and growth capital for these early stage companies.”
Crowdo is a regional peer-to-peer lending and equity crowdfunding platform with operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It has obtained a full securities crowdfunding licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, making it the first licensed P2P lending platform in Asean. As at end March, Crowdo had financed a total of 2,000 projects.
PwC’s Venture Hub is a unit within PwC that aims to provide a one-stop shop approach to providing solutions and services to motivated entrepreneurs, investors, corporate and accelerators within the venture ecosystem, helping them to accelerate their growth and expand into their key markets.
Areas of collaboration outlined by the MOU signed between SGX and Crowdo include raising awareness among the SMEs and the investing community about the various opportunities and channels available to raise capital in Singapore; information sharing to create efficient access to capital for SMEs; and mutually developing guidelines for the cross-referral of potential clients.
As part of the MOU signed between SGX and PwC’s Venture Hub, areas of collaboration include jointly promoting Singapore as an attractive ecosystem for start-ups, fast growing innovative companies and the investing community; arranging regular dialogues to further develop thought leadership within the start-up community; and raising awareness about the various opportunities and channels to grow in the Asia Pacific region, using Singapore as a hub.
