Since inception, Equity crowdfunding (ECF) and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing have facilitated 7,218 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to raise more than RM4.4 billion, said the Securities Commission (SC).

In its Annual Report 2022 released yesterday, the SC said there was a 36 per cent decrease in total fundraising via ECF in 2022 to RM140.4 million (2021: RM220.7 million), but the campaign sizes were larger, with 21 per cent of campaigns raising above RM3 million each (2021: 17 per cent of campaigns).

While P2P financing continued to grow in 2022, with total fundraising amounting to RM1.6 billion, recording a 38 per cent increase (2021: RM1.1 billion), which benefited 3,732 companies (2021: 1,986).

The SC said to promote the ECF and P2P financing market further, several initiatives had been successfully implemented to serve the needs of a wider range of businesses and spur higher market growth.

It said ECF and P2P financing have continued to broaden access to financing for MSMEs, with syariah-compliant offerings on these platforms also gaining traction, with a total of RM368.13 million funds raised as of Dec 31, 2022.

“To further harness the potential of ECF and P2P financing platforms, the SC opened applications for registration of new ECF and P2P financing operators with syariah-based solutions and value-propositions in 2022.

“This measure is expected to catalyse innovation in syariahcompliant offerings to further facilitate access to funding needs of MSMEs through alternative fundraising digital platforms and promote greater recovery,” it added.

According to the report, the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF), an initiative to co-invest in MSMEs and social enterprises alongside private investors via ECF and P2P financing platforms, has successfully co-invested over RM638 million in 35,000 ECF and P2P financing campaigns, benefitting 3,635 MSMEs, as of Dec 31, 2022.

“The fund had co-invested alongside more than RM2.56 billion from private investors.

“In 2022, MyCIF focused on the agriculture sector, an industry identified to be of strategic importance to the local economic recovery,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian private markets have shown steady growth, with total committed funds of registered venture capital and private equity firms amounting to more than RM16.08 billion as of the end of 2022.

“Given its importance to the engines of economic growth, efforts are required to build a more facilitative landscape for private market investments.

“With several master plans and initiatives introduced by various agencies, aligning these efforts through collaboration is key,” said the SC. — Bernama