On Thursday, Singapore-based real estate crowdfunding platform CoAssets , which was recently listed on the National Stock Exchange of Australia to form CoAssets Limited (“CoAssets” or the “Company”) (NSX code: CAX), is pleased to announce it has established its second strategic joint venture as part of its regional expansion plan. The agreement with Fujian Yaosheng Zichan provides CoAssets with a great entry point in the People’s Republic of China; Yaosheng is a well-established conglomerate, whose development funding arm does in excess of S$200million deals annually in Fujian province alone.
The joint venture structure (CoAssets 40%/Yaosheng 60%), which will commence its operations in December 2015, will see CoAssets as the operator of the venture and Yaosheng utilize the CoAssets’ platform for all its property developments in China, as well as facilitating the introduction of new developers to the joint venture. Shortly after joint venture operations in Fujian commence, Yaosheng will assist to expand crowdfunding operations to other neighbouring provinces. CoAssets will retain control over all the IP (trademarks and branding) and receive an annual license fee of 15% of the joint venture’s net profit after tax.
CEO of CoAssets, Getty Goh, stated:
“This Joint Venture adds to the growth opportunity unlocked by our recent JV announced in Indonesia. Fujian Yaosheng Zichan is an experienced participant in the real estate development sector in the People’s Republic of China, and this partnership will allow us to leverage off their development pipeline as well as their high quality network.
“It is noteworthy that CoAssets is one of the fastest growing platforms in the crowdfunding space. In a matter of weeks, we were able to not only get the support of the East Java Government on the Indonesian front, we were also able to enter into a partnership with such an established player like Yaosheng in China. This is the result of how hard the team is working as well as the confidence and goodwill generated from our Australian listing. From our partners’ feedback, they prefer to deal with us, rather than some of the other small start-ups in this space, as our Australian listing demonstrates our commitment to be transparent in our business dealings.
“I believe that another reason why we have gained traction so quickly in Indonesia and China is largely due to our Singaporean pedigree. Having received initial seed funding via the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Jumpstart and Mentor (i.JAM) initiative, administered by Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA), we found it easy to gain the trusts among our regional partners. This reflects the good standing that the Singapore brand has among the business community in ASEAN and CoAssets has benefitted greatly from our Singaporean roots. Although we are listed in Australia, we hope to keep the Singapore’s flag flying high as we bring our country’s style of highly transparent and accountable way of crowdfunding to ASEAN and China.”
CTO of CoAssets, Dr. Seh Huan Kiat, then explained:
“CoAssets envisages itself as anUber for the crowdfunding space. Uber serves its users by cleverly matching the demand and supply of rides with the help of big data. Similarly, we hope to serve our users by matching the demand and supply of crowdfunding needs for the region. Even though the form of crowdfunding, be it debt or equity, may vary across the different regions as it will be in compliance with the local regulations, the big data engine that drives CoAssets remains unchanged.
“In the last 2 years, we have done more than 28 real estate crowdfunding deals with a cumulative value of over S$38million via CoAssets. Recently, we also concluded a number of business crowdfunding trials with great success, which highlights that our analytics and work with big data is driving conversion rates and shortening funding cycles. Based on our strong track record in Singapore we aim to replicate similar crowdfunding models in the countries we intend to operate in.”
Goh added:
“With the regional partnerships in China and Indonesia, as well as the ramp up of business operations in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, CoAssets can be considered as a truly regional crowdfunding platform. Moving ahead, we are confident that we will be able to rapidly grow our investor and revenue base, by providing users with a greater array of real estate investment crowdfunding opportunities. So do keep a keen eye on CoAssets’ development, as we expect to grow in leaps and bounds from this point onwards.”