Investment marketplace Funderbeam gets two financial service licenses from MAS

Funderbeam Markets Pte Ltd, the Singaporean subsidiary of UK-based funding and trading platform Funderbeam, has received two financial service licenses from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

MAS headquarters in central Singapore / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Funderbeam, which operates a platform that allows investors to buy and sell equity stakes in private companies, was issued a Capital Market Services (CMS) license and a Recognized Market Operator (RMO) license by MAS.

The RMO trading license will enable the firm to introduce automated trading and secondary listing services to any private company in Europe and Asia and help solve liquidity problems. The CMS license, on the other hand, will allow Funderbeam to make its platform available to Singapore-based organizations and investors.

The company said it aims to fill in the gap in venture and SME capital markets by providing access and liquidity to growth investments with the help of trusted structures and technology.

“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,” said Kaidi Ruusalepp, founder and CEO of Funderbeam.

To date, the firm claims it has 45 high-growth portfolio companies on its marketplace and has onboarded over 12,000 verified investors across 122 countries. Since its inception in 2013, it said almost US$3 million worth of investment shares have been exchanged via its platform.