SEC grants Investree Philippine license to operate on crowdfunding platform

MANILA, Philippines — The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted Investree Philippines Inc., a partnership between Filinvest Development Corp. and Investree Singapore, a permanent license to operate as a crowdfunding platform.

The move is part of efforts to promote the growth of the crowdfunding market in the country.

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet.

It involves three parties namely, the entrepreneur or project initiator; the supporters or those willing to fund the business idea or project; and the platform or moderating organization that brings the entrepreneur and supporters together to realize the business idea or project.

Investree Philippines is the first crowdfunding intermediary and funding portal registered with the SEC after the Rules and Regulations Covering Crowdfunding took effect in July 2019.

The company operates a lending-based crowdfunding platform whose crowdfunding activities involve banks or qualified buyers as lenders, and small, medium and emerging enterprises (SMEs) as borrowers.

As of Dec. 20, 2021, Investree Philippines’ crowdfunding portal had a total of 43 issuers and one investor with 110 notes issued amounting to a total of P172.15 million.

The company had three investors during the same period, namely Investree Singapore, Andremere Holding Corp. and Netbank (A Rural Bank) Inc.

Lending-based and equity-based crowdfunding activities involve the offer of securities in the form of debentures or shares, which means that they are subject to securities regulation in many jurisdictions.

Crowdfunding securities may be exempt from registration, provided that the issuer, intermediary, and investors comply with the Rules.

Section 8 of Republic Act No. 8799 or the Securities Regulation Code provides that securities shall not be sold or offered for sale or distribution, without a registration statement duly filed and approved by the SEC.