Officially Operating, FundEx Aims for Digital Business to Get Alternative Funding

FundEx enlivens the ranks of securities crowdfunding (SCF) players in providing alternative funding for SMEs, as well as investment alternatives for retail investors.

This startup has obtained a business license from OJK as of September 6, 2021, it is planned to inaugurate itself to the public at the end of October 2021.

FundEx was founded in 2019 by Agung Wibowo, Purwanto, and Tri Mukhlison who are fellow alma maters at the University of Indonesia.

Initially, they were moved to build a funding ecosystem for startups, after receiving socialization about equity crowdfunding (ECF) from OJK.

Then in 2020, OJK refined the ECF rules to become SCF through POJK 57, as well as replacing the previous regulation, namely POJK 37.

“With the enactment of POJK 57, FundEx’s business model has changed. FundEx can not only offer equity securities, but also debt securities, namely bonds and sukuk,” said FundExCo-founder and CEO Agung Wibowo to DailySocial.id.

He continued, compared to similar players, the differentiation offered by FundEx is that they are more specifically looking for creative and innovative digital businesses with high, even exponential growth.

“Investing in startups is an advantage FundEx has, where other SCF players are not taking the market.”

Businesses Can Get Funding through FundEx

Through FundEx, businesses can get funding ranging from IDR 1 billion to IDR 10 billion. The community as retail investors will get share ownership from businesses in the form of startups, so they have the opportunity to get dividends and even exponential capital gains.

Meanwhile, businesses in the form of MSMEs, such as boarding houses, restaurants, and minimarkets, will receive regular dividend sharing, at least once a year.

There is also a business in the form of a project, which allows retail investors to get a share of the profits from the project.

Each type of business has different investment instruments, some are equity securities (EBE) to invest in startups and MSMEs. Meanwhile for the project-type business, the investment instruments are bonds and sukuk, which are debt securities (EBU).

The three investment instruments that FundEx offers can be an alternative investment and diversify for investors according to their respective risk profiles.

Following OJK’s encouragement, investors who have an income of less than IDR 500 million/year can only invest 5% of their total annual income.

Meanwhile, for those with an annual income of more than IDR 500 million, they can invest between 5%-10% of their annual income.

Collaborating with Insurance Companies for Security Aspects

In addition to the business side itself, FundEx also takes mitigation steps before a business can raise funds. Agung explained, for EBU, security is more secure than equity because debt must be returned.

For the security aspect, the company cooperates with insurance companies, and asks for guarantees. While for EBE, generally some ask for dividend sharing and capital gains.

If anything leads to dividend sharing, FundEx will play in property management, so there must be asset control. “It’s good that we can use the property as an asset in the company. So, for example, if the company goes bankrupt, we can liquidate the assets and return them to the investors.”

He continued, for investments in startups that fall into the high-risk category, the curation process will be much more stringent. Therefore, FundEx will be more selective and securities of this type will be issued in a limited manner, around three to five startups per year.

“Because we believe that this startup does not have many assets to pledge, does not have land ownership, and so on. What we can rely on is how their prospects in the future. In addition, we will also pay close attention to the startup team or founder. Do they have financial problems or not.”

According to him, all these indicators can be monitored through the Credit Information Management Agency (LPIP), which has collaborated with FundEx. “From there we can see whether the startup has a bad financial record or not.”