itchIN CEO, Sam Shafie
2022 will be a big year for pitchIN. In early March 2022, SC gave in-principle approval to pitchIN’s Secondary Market. On 23 March, pitchIN was announced as one of two Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) platforms in Malaysia.
pitchIN CEO Sam Shafie said that pitchIN is delighted to receive approval from the Securities Commission. “We thank the SC for approving our plans for new services. In 2016, when we launched our ECF platform, we said that Malaysia is a very entrepreneurial nation where many regional giants started from. Over the past six years, our ECF platform have assisted over 130 fast growing Malaysian companies to raise over RM230 million. We believe that IEO and the pitchIN Secondary Market will enable pitchIN to offer more fundraising options as well as add liquidity options for investors.”
Chan Wei Chi, who will head pitchIN’s IEO operations said that pitchIN aims to contribute to the creation of a vibrant digital assets ecosystem in Malaysia that is open, innovative and interoperable. “Based on global technology trends and the regulatory framework for Digital Assets in Malaysia, we are targeting sectors that will benefit from the capability to issue Digital Assets. Some of these sectors are education, agriculture, health, sports and entertainment, e-sports, content, social and community platforms, media and advertising, as well as commerce and services for digital tokens.”
As for the pitchIN Secondary Market, Kashminder Singh, Chief Strategy Officer of pitchIN believes that it will be vital to drive the next phase of growth for ECF. “Many companies who raised funds previously on pitchIN are doing well. We have already seen the first IPO among our Issuers with a few more on the way. The pitchIN Secondary Market will add another exit option to existing ECF investors as well as new investors who want to take up equity in these growing companies. We target to launch the pitchIN Secondary Market in the first half of 2022.”
Sam Shafie said that pitchIN has been preparing for some time now to grow beyond ECF into a fintech player with multiple offerings. “Over the last two years, we have grown from a 5-man company to a 24 strong team. We have strengthened our capacities in technology, compliance, legal and financial analysis. pitchIN has also raised RM10.5 million from an ECF campaign as well as VC investors. The Secondary Market and upcoming IEO are just the first on our roadmap. We look forward to launching even more services soon, not just in Malaysia but also regionally.”
