Funderbeam, a global funding and trading platform for investors to buy and sell equity stakes in private companies, has been issued with two financial service licenses by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its Singapore-based subsidy, Funderbeam Markets Pte Ltd.
The Capital Market Services (CMS) license and aRecognised Market Operator (RMO) license will help Funderbeam in its next stage of growth – the creation of a true, global secondary market for private businesses across Europe and Asia.
Founded in Estonia in 2013, the company is headquartered in the UK and regulated in Europe by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The company aims to fill in the gap in venture and SME capital markets by providing access and liquidity to growth investments; namely by introducing trusted structures and technology to provide 24/7 global access to the service.
“Our vision is to be the funding and trading platform of global private companies. To achieve this, we had to introduce a new business model and technology that could overcome the limitations of the existing, regulated alternative markets,” says Kaidi Ruusalepp, the founder and CEO of Funderbeam. “We are very pleased to have been recognised by MAS in Singapore – underscoring the high degree of trust towards our vision. As we will soon be operating in two continents, obtaining recognition from the MAS adds further assurances to the robustness of our established marketplace and distinguishes us as a truly global funding and trading platform.”
“Since March 2017, Mistletoe has been taking a journey together with Funderbeam to create a startup funding ecosystem in Asia centered around Singapore. It took years of hard work, but now it has begun. Mistletoe and Funderbeam will form a community of startups, investors and family offices in Asia, open up Asian investment opportunities to Europe and support various startups to make positive impacts in Asian countries. I’m so thrilled to move forward together with Funderbeam,” says Taizo Son, founder of Mistletoe.
To date, Funderbeam has 39 high-growth portfolio companies on its marketplace and has onboarded over 12,000 verified investors across 122 countries. Since the platform’s inception, more than USD3 million worth of investment shares have been exchanged via Funderbeam’s initial, limited secondary marketplace. Having now secured an RMO trading license, Funderbeam can accelerate the growth of its secondary offer, namely by introducing automated trading and secondary listing service to any private company in Europe and Asia and solve the long-standing liquidity problems present in start-up and SME investment.
With the CMS license, Funderbeam will now be able to make its platform available to Singapore-based companies and investors. With Singapore being a key regional hub in Asia for financial services, innovation and funding, many companies outside Singapore have established their holding entity in the nation, which would enable Funderbeam to serve the wider Asia region.
