P2P lender OurCrowd partners with United Overseas Bank in Singapore
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) has seemingly embraced the fintech revolution, forming a partnership with crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, which recently received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This comes after UOB invested $10m for an initial tie-up with the crowdfunder back in March to create an equity crowdfunding platform. As part of the latest deal, UOB bankers will be trained to advise start-ups on alternative financing measures available to them beyond traditional financing, such as crowdfunding.

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Equity crowdfunding website OurCrowd has obtained a full Capital Market Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), it said on Wednesday in a joint statement with its partner for Asia, United Overseas Bank (UOB).

The license, which was awarded in end-July, enables OurCrowd to provide its services in Singapore.

“Our latest approval and licence in Singapore is further validation of OurCrowd’s global footprint and it’s exciting to see immediate and impactful results, thanks to our partners at UOB and the Sassoon Investment Corporation (SIC),”Mr. Denes Ban, OurCrowd partner and managing director for Asia, said. “Singapore-based investors will now have access to our portfolio of world-class startups and tap their growth potential.”

“We are proud of the rapid growth of our unique brand of equity crowdfunding and teaming up with UOB to advance the cutting edge of FinTech and the startup ecosystem in the region. As we work together, innovative Asian companies with differentiated and highly scalable technology products and services will be able to get access to another source of funding from a global investor network to jumpstart their international expansion and business development,” Jon Medved, OurCrowd Founder and CEO, said.

OurCrowd was launched in 2013 and since then has raised more than $250 million. More than 14,000 investors have used the platform to support over 100 start-up companies with funds. OwnCrowd differs from other equity crowdfunding platforms in that it invests own capital in each deal alongside crowd investors. In addition, the platform also provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and often takes board seats.

OwnCrowd partnered with UOB in March this year. The bank said at the time that the partnership reinforced its commitment in supporting Asian startups and small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) with end-to-end financing needs. As part of the deal, UOB made a $10 million investment in the crowdfunding platform. It has also trained more than 100 bankers on alternative financing.

“We understand the ambitions of startups and emerging enterprises and want to help them grow into sustainable businesses. In the last six months, we have trained more than 100 commercial bankers to identify and to understand the type of financing for which startups can qualify. Through our initiatives, we are well-equipped to support the startup ecosystem and help them realize their full potential,” Janet Young, head of froup channels and digitalization at UOB, said.

In addition, accredited investors among UOB’s clients will now have an opportunity to broaden their investments into OurCrowd’s portfolio companies and tap into a quality deal flow across the globe.

Although focused on the Asian market, UAB is present in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.