pitchIN raises US$1.3 mil from 322 investors through own equity crowdfunding campaign

• Campaign oversubscribed, funds for business expansion & new business units
• Another US$1.2mil raise to come from identified institutional investors

PitchIN, Malaysia’s leading ECF platform, has successfully concluded its first ever fundraising exercise. At the end of its equity crowdfunding campaign on Leet Capital, pitchIN chose to accept US$1.34 million (RM5.5 million) from 322 investors.

Delighted with the response from investors, Sam Shafie, pitchIn CEO said, “I thank the investors for their support in making our deal one of the largest ECF campaigns in Malaysia. Our campaign target was US$1.21 million (RM5 million). The campaign ended up with around RM5.65 million raised. To not disappoint investors, pitchIN accepted all investors but returned some of the funds to keep our fundraising amount to RM5.5 million. We take this success as a vote of confidence in pitchIN as well as the prospects of the equity crowdfunding and digital investments industry. We are confident about the direction that we are taking. PitchIN is a fintech and the market opportunity is huge. There are over 900,000 SMEs in Malaysia alone. What we have done to date is just the beginning, there is lots of potential to unlock.”

[RM1 = US$0.242]

Kashminder Singh, pitchIn chief strategy officer added, “We are overwhelmed by the support shown for our first ever fundraising campaign. In 2015, we launched pitchIN with our own funds because we believed in the importance of democratising the fundraising industry. We are grateful that we have been able to create a platform that has helped 112 SMEs and startups raise over RM177 million  from over 5,500 investors. These new funds will enable us to offer our services to more SMEs and startups.”

The 322 investors consisted of retail, angel and sophisticated investors and included several notable investors. Well known serial entrepreneur and startup investor Ganesh Kumar Bangah, ex MCMC Chairman Sharil Tarmizi, Chan Kok San, the cofounder of publicly listed company Aimflex Bhd and Simpson Wong Kean Hin, the Managing Director of Shellys Marketing Sdn Bhd, which operate XES shoes outlets participated in the ECF campaign.

Ganesh believes that challenges can be solved through entrepreneurship: “My life mission is in doing my part to build the next generation of entrepreneurs. I believe the best way to make the world a better place is to get entrepreneurs to solve the world’s problems.”

Ganesh further added, “Sam and Kash have a proven track record in successfully raising early stage funding for entrepreneurs. PitchIN today has emerged as one of the most effective fund-raising options for entrepreneurs and SMEs in Malaysia. I have chosen to invest because I believe that pitchIN has an even larger role to play in the funding ecosystem and look forward to supporting them in their journey.”

“I have known Sam and Kash for many years across various capacities and have seen how they have grown pitchIN to what it is today. So, when the opportunity to invest came up, I did not hesitate. I look forward to seeing pitchIN growing bigger and offering new services,” said Sharil.

Chan said, “I checked out their campaign offer and was impressed with their performance. PitchIN is well run and achieved profitability in just a few years. The company has great prospects and I look forward to seeing them grow even more in the years to come.”

Alongside this RM5.5 million, pitchIN is also in the final stages of raising an additional RM5 million from institutional investors. Sam explains, “We set out to raise RM10 million in total, of which RM5 million was allocated for institutional investors. The investors have been identified and we expect to close that amount fairly soon.”

This fundraise will enable pitchIN to expand its operations to serve more businesses and investors as well as offer new services. PitchIN will open a secondary market for its ECF platform later this year. It has also applied for a license to operate an IEO platform. It also plans to launch more services in the next few years.