When citing the growth of the fintech market, its common to see indicators such as VC investments in the market referenced. However accurate these numbers are, 2014 and 2015 have continued a dramatic increase in the pace of investment. Another factor that’s often harder to quantify, is the adoption among the incumbents and established market participants in the sector but arguably its at least as indicative of a larger trend. 

Private transactions are a vast, often unstructured market with a big emphasis on informal networks. Just think of all the ‘friends and family’ money in the early stage investing market, the angel networks and the importance of their activity. In recent years the uptick of small funds, ‘super angels’, online syndication and co-investment models have paved the way for various family office, smaller funds and private investor networks to question the way they operate. Could structuring the informal networks into a catalyst for larger impact bring more bang for your buck? 

As Malaysia’s framework for online investment marketplaces (equity crowd funding) is unveiled, there’s a lot of buzz around the region about the impact of new online funding models. While countries like Malaysia are looking to other countries for benchmarks, initial frameworks are still largely mirroring one another and real world applications will show how they can be applied to new regions. 

Despite the fact that there are heaps of articles being published, suggesting that a crowd investing sector or geography is dominating the rests. While appealing as a thought, the market is still nascent and any domination, may simply suggest that growth is uneven cross the various dimensions. However, there are observations that can be made in how the market is evolving, at various stages across the world.