Through the “Equity Crowdfunding” Scheme, CrowdDana makes it easy for people to invest in property projects

Since the regulations were inaugurated by the OJK in 2019, the platform based on  equity crowdfunding emerge and are increasingly in demand by the public. Conceptually, the business model is similar to p2p loans, only as a lender (as Actioncalendar) get a reward in the form of shares sold by the business owner (as borrowers).

As of December 2019, in connection with POJK Number 37/POJK.04/2018, there are currently three digital companies that have obtained OJK permits, namely Santra, Bizshare and CrowdDana.

CrowdDana itself initially focused on financing property projects. Since its debut, there have been two boarding houses development projects that have been successfully funded, reaching Rp. 14,6 billion. And currently one other development project is still running with a target of Rp 6,8 billion.

"Of all the property assets we analyzed, boarding houses were the most profitable. Due to the high demand from tenants, management efficiency and stable occupancy percentages," explained CrowdDana Co-Founder & Chief Product & Marketing Officer, In.

CrowdDana business model

CrowdFunds (PT Crowddana Teknologi Indonusa) is a platform that connects investors and asset manager property. On this platform, investors can pour their funds into property projects that are offered with low capital, starting from IDR 1 million.

This platform was founded in April 2019 and managed to get a permit from the OJK with the number KEP93/D.04/2019 dated December 31, 2019.

Regarding the business model applied, Stevanus said, "CrowdDana takes a fee of 3% of the funds raised. In addition, when the boarding property is operational, CrowdDana takes a fee of 5% of the revenue."

From the list of ongoing and finished raises, return on investment offered reaches 16%. Each completed project is funded by an average of 40-50 investors. OJK regulations state that the number of shareholders cannot be more than 300 parties, following Law Number 8 of 1995 concerning the Capital Market. The regulation is also used as the main variable in the calculation of determining the minimum investment value for each project.

In schema equity crowdfunding, the investor's profit will be different in each project, proportionally based on the number of shares. The platform provider's job is to conduct a rigorous selection of projects that will raise funds. Including conducting an analysis of business potential. At CrowdDanna, dividends are distributed periodically, according to project policy, between every 3 or 6 months.

Investors can trade shares in the secondary market (marketplaces). Generally these markets are opened one year after the project is successfully funded. And the secondary market is opened a maximum of 2x per year.

Users can register and verify accounts to start investing in CrowdDana. Meanwhile publishers or project owners can contact the team separately to start fundraising on the platform. The upper limit for each project is IDR 10 billion per year for each issuer in the form of a limited liability company.

Immediately explore new business verticals

Besides Stevanus, there are two other founders namely James Wiryadi (CEO) and Handison Jaya (CTO). Stefanus previously worked as product manager at Ematic Solution, a Singapore-based SaaS developer for digital marketing. He studied at the University of California majoring in computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence.

While James was previously an analyst at CapitalLand Indonesia, one of the companies real estate market largest in Asia. His studies at New York University also focus on the field of real estate & finance. While Handison was previously there senior software engineer at Ematic Solution, graduated from UI majoring in computer science.

"We chose property as the main sector because we already have a lot of experience in the related sector. We are also working with property developer partner with track record the good one, AbdiHome, who had previous experience building boarding houses. With this expertise, we are optimistic that we can carry out each project properly and accurately," continued Stevanus.

He also said that in about two months they will explore new verticals for fundraising projects on their platform. The plan is to start a food and service business.

"From the response of the community and business owners franchise, the demand is huge. From the investor's point of view (the public), investing in a restaurant or service business is also easier to understand, compared to property. From the publisher side (owner franchise), they want to expand their business but do not have access to financial funding," said Stevanus.

In July 2019, CrowdDana received an injection of funds from three angel investors which is not stated in detail. To accelerate the business and development of technology products, in 2020 they are also targeting to raise funds in seed round from venture capitalists.

Easily accepted by the community

In the midst of the development of the national economy, coupled with the increasing per capita income of the people, investment channels have begun to be in great demand. Even though it is new, the model equity crowdfunding In fact, it was quite well received by the community.

"Draft equity crowdfunding actually not new, because it has been applied in the traditional way by the Indonesian people when investing in joint ventures with friends or relatives in the condotel business, restaurant business and other businesses. CrowdDana uses this scheme and utilizes technology for information disclosure," said Stevanus.

In order to provide user convenience, this year there will be a number of application capability improvements. For example, the Live CCTV Feed feature makes it easier for funders to monitor project progress, there is also an Occupancy Tracker, POS Order Tracker and so on.

"In addition to expanding into other business sectors, this year we are targeting to be able to fund 10 boarding houses. For this reason, the company will also expand cooperation with banks, property developers and other startups to assist business development," he concluded.