SGX inks MOUs with Crowdo, PwC's Venture Hub to give start-ups better capital access

SINGAPORE Exchange (SGX) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) each with Crowdonomic Media and PwC's Venture Hub to facilitate capital access for start-ups and early-stage small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The MOUs aim to raise 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.

Other areas of collaboration include promoting Singapore as an attractive ecosystem for start-ups, fast-growing innovative companies and the investing community; arranging regular dialogues within the start-up community; and promoting the various opportunities and channels to grow in the Asia-Pacific region, using Singapore as a hub.

"As a market operator, we believe our established infrastructure and network can support and improve access to capital for early-stage companies,'' said Mohamed Nasser Ismail, head of equity capital market (SME) and head of capital market development at SGX, adding that the regulator has also been involved in the start-up and early-stage SMEs space.

"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 2017, Crowdo has financed a total of 2,000 projects.

PwC's Venture Hub is a unit within PwC that adopts 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.