KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 23): The government co-invested RM357 million alongside private investors in 2,279 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through the Malaysia Co-investment Fund (MyCIF) from Oct, 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2021.

Those investments were allocated through locally-licensed equity crowdfunding (ECF) and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platforms.

The total allocation of MyCIF by the government during the corresponding period was RM180 million. Excluding continuous re-investment of P2P notes, fixed deposit interest and dividends received from ECF investments, RM165.72 million of MyCIF was invested in local businesses via ECF and P2P platforms.

While supporting local businesses, the fund has generated a total net return on capital of RM4.6 million, which equals 2.78% of the total invested amount of RM165.72 million.

For more details, the total gross return of the fund before deducting losses and fees was RM9.24 million, of which RM1.2 million comes from ECF divestment and RM320,841 from ECF dividends through preference shares. Interest/return generated by P2P financing to the fund was RM7.32 million, while interest from fixed deposits/idle funds also contributed RM394,202 to its gross return.

MyCIF has reinvested all repayments generated from P2P investments into subsequent P2P financing notes. All this information was laid out by the MyCIF Annual Report 2021, issued by the Securities Commission of Malaysia on Aug 16.

According to the report, businesses in the accommodation and food and beverage (F&B) were the main beneficiaries of MyCIF co-investments made through ECF platforms.

Meanwhile, businesses in the wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles received the highest funding amount through MyCIF P2P co-investments.

The report showed that the ECF and P2P industries are growing. As of the end of 2021, both platforms’ players raised RM2.71 billion, compared with RM1.33 billion in 2020.

In the ECF space, pitchIN raised the most funds last year at RM84.3 million. This was followed by Mystartr (RM46.9 million), AtaPlus (RM19.5 million), Fundnel (RM14.5 million) and Crowdo (RM9.9 million).

As for the P2P industry, Funding Societies raised the highest amount of funds last year, amounting to RM309.2 million. It was followed by CapBay (RM213.9 million), Moneysave (RM198.4 million), B2B Finpal (RM106.8 million) and Fundaztic (RM35.8 million).

The report also pointed out that six social enterprises had benefited from P2P financing platforms. MyCIF had co-invested RM2.58 million in these social enterprises through the MyCIF Social Enterprise scheme.