Investree, a fintech firm, aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) raise more than 1 billion baht through debt crowdfunding this year after receiving a licence for a crowdfunding platform from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Investree's co-founder and chief executive Natsuda Bhukkanasut said the company received the licence in February 2021.
For the first 10 months of operation, the company helped SMEs raise a total value of 221 million baht through the debt crowdfunding platform, representing 16% of crowdfunding's total market value.
The company has an investor base that understands the risks of investment in SMEs and wants to help SMEs grow, she said.
Ms Natsuda said Investree plans to help SMEs raise around 1 billion baht through debt crowdfunding in 2022, up five times from last year's level, and to expand the investor base to more than 320 investors.
The investor base expansion plan targets both institutional investors who are in the process of registering and foreign funds that are considering investment in peer-to-peer loans abroad, she said.
Ms Natsuda said considering the percentage of companies that issued debt instruments, it is clear there are many SMEs that need funds for business expansion and liquidity enhancement.
"We firmly believe that everyone can grow, so no one should go out of business because of an occasional loss. We have helped more than 40 SMEs with more than 400 employees," she said.
In addition, Investree has worked with various business partners including large supply chain groups such as Central Pattana and Central Retail Corporation by helping their business partners and small entrepreneurs raise roughly 20 million baht through the Investree crowdfunding platform, said Ms Natsuda.
She said the firm also provides financial services such as a digital purchasing platform and supply chain finance to create added business value for customers.
Thailand has about 3 million entrepreneurs, of which 99% are SMEs and over 2 million are small firms.
However, SMEs still have difficulties in accessing funding even though the lending market is highly competitive, said Ms Natsuda.
