CoAssets is a real estate crowdfunding platform in South East Asia, with offices in Singapore and Malaysia. They launched in July 2014, and after almost two and a half years they have raised more than S$45 million (S$35 million in successful deals). The platform is currently being used by over 4.3 thousand registered investors. On November 29 the company announced that it would be launching South East Asia’s first crowdfunding magazine.
The first edition of this new print publication will be coming out in January 2015 and contain news and information across different types of crowdfunding such as peer-to-peer lending, equity, rewards, and donation based platforms. The magazine, Crowdfunders, will also feature projects from the site in an effort to get them more exposure and offer a service that can’t be found on most platforms.
CoAsset’s co-founder and CEO, Getty Goh has admitted:
“Some may find it strange that we are launching a hardcopy magazine, as it does not sit squarely into the online crowdfunding business model. When you talk about crowdfunding, most people will use digital marketing as a means of getting the word out. While online marketing is definitely important, we believe that it is akin to preaching to the converted. Hence, we wanted to launch a hardcopy magazine to reach out to the mainstream audience, who may not understand crowdfunding, and to let them know more about the topic as well as the potential it holds.”
CoAssets has found ways to balance their marketing efforts to include both online and offline campaigns. Goh has mentioned that they have partnered with popular online news networks and also put on annual events such as the Expo for Property Investing and Crowdfunding (EPIC).
A post about the new magazine’s release on the company website says:
“Crowdfunders is a collaboration between CoAssets and Property Media, the publisher of Homebuyers, a Singapore-based real estate magazine. Dovetailing on Homebuyers, more than 20,000 copies of Crowdfunders will be distributed across the region, including countries like Malaysia, Hong Kong and China.”
In November 2014 CoAssets was awarded by the London based Overseas Property Professional (OPP) Group, receiving the Best Innovation Prize Gold award. Although the company has not been around for long, partnerships with a wide variety of opportunity providers has made them an internationally recognized name.
The judges at the ceremony complimented the company’s work so far, noting:
“Not surprisingly, the best innovation class has been full of innovation but CoAssets and its founder Getty Goh has out-innovated the innovators. Finance is the lifeblood of development and the CoAssets model for funding smaller developments could be a game-changer. Keep an eye on this one!”
Real estate crowdfunding has been booming lately as more people come to realize its potential for making smaller investments with reduced risk, working around traditional higher interest funds from banks and other financial institutions. Crowd Valley’s Q3 2014 market report showed that the highest demand for their service was in the equity crowdfunding sector and that real estate was the second largest asset type after private companies.
