SeedAsia lets startups in China, Southeast Asia receive angel investments online

The notion that Asia is an attractive place to do a startup is nothing new. What’s changing is how much easier it has become to raise money or receive an investment.

Take SeedAsia.co as an example. Started in Shanghai by Tom Russell and Yelena Sedykh, the online platform connects angel investors with startups and greases the wheels for an investment deal.

The premise is that having a web entity to aggregate startups and investors would lead to greater efficiency in information sharing, administration, standardized documentation, and deal discovery.

SeedAsia pulls individual investors together, allowing a minimal investment of USD 2,000. It charges a 5 percent fee to angels for its services, which also includes curating startups based on investability.

Individuals who want to get involved must verify that they’re accredited investors. Generally, these refer to high net worth individuals whose net assets exceed the threshold set by their respective countries.

It currently has one startup on the platform, but will add more in the coming months. That company is Decision Fuel, which has developed a tool for users to conduct mobile-based surveys with customers. The platform accepts startups based in China and Southeast Asia.

Globally, we’re seeing more equity-based investment platforms revolving around startups. In England, Crowdcube has already facilitated almost 9M Pounds worth of investments since 2010, while Angellist, a more famous sibling, has recently begun allowing investors to make deals on its platform.

In Asia, crowdfunding has become a recognized avenue for startups to raise money — with Innova Technology, Newton Circus, and soon Pirate3D getting into the act. Singapore even has its own crowdfunding platform in Crowdonomic, which is seeing usage by some startups.

While Southeast Asia as a region has often been overshadowed by India and China, these online tools are becoming valuable as a means for startups to escape geographical limits.