Innovative real estate crowdfunding platform Flint Technology seeks SEC nod
Flint Technology CEO Andre Mercado
MANILA, Philippines — As the first Philippine company to spark the real estate crowdfunding flame, Flint Technology Corp., partly drenched at the moment, aims to keep the sparks alive by seeking the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Although Flint Tech has completed all the SEC licensing requirements, it had to temporarily suspend its operations to acquiesce in an advisory issued last June 9, as the regulatory agency classified its public investment offerings as “unauthorized.”
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Poised to develop a proven business concept by allowing citizens to invest in real estate projects for as low as P1,000, Flint Tech was ordered in December 2020 to apply for its own crowdfunding license after its one-year association with SeedIn Technology, a corporation whose complete application for a crowdfunding license had been submitted three years prior and had since been granted a transitional license by the SEC.
As SeedIn’s equal partner, Flint began operating in 2019 and grew at breakneck speed. When funds raised broke the P250 million mark, the SEC required that Flint applies for its own license — instead of using SeedIn’s transitional license — to which Flint immediately complied.
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Flint’s application is now pending.
“We have always acted in good faith,” said Flint CEO Andre Mercado. “We’re a legitimate business and we’re doing all we can to assure the public and protect every investor that’s put his or her faith in us.”
Currently handling sourced funds totaling 44 projects, the Flint Tech platform has thousands of users and active investors — 35% of whom are overseas Filipino workers.
A majority of the company’s investing clients can put their funds into micro-investments.
Through this fresh new local portal, Filipino investors are now getting a taste of online crowdfunding, a system that’s been successfully run in the United States and Europe — and even in regional neighbors such as Singapore.
The process allows for an individual with no cash to acquire a real estate property out of funds sourced from outside investors, who then receive returns or interests for each project they finance.
Although it is not releasing new projects at present pending SEC’s granting of a crowdfunding license, Flint Tech offers high returns per project with durations of eight to 15 months.
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And the returns are paid out in two ways:
- Balloon Payout: An investor receives interest monthly and the capital and the remaining interest on the last month.
- Equal Payout, which is more preferred: Both the capital and the interest are received every month.
A payout reinvestment scheme that compounds interests and increases profits is also available.
“There’s a lot of ground to cover, quite literally, and crowdfunding is increasingly becoming a viable, sustainable option for many Filipinos toiling hard for their real estate dreams,” Mercado said. “There are many willing investors ready to help and allow for honest profits in the process. Flint Technology is here to explore possibilities wherever they are.”
In addition and as a response to the abovementioned concerns, Mercado says: “Flint commits to focus on the collection of debts from all its borrowers.”
The statement on Flint’s Facebook page reads as follows: “As our integrity and loyalty to you will always be our most important consideration, we are exhausting every remedy to assure that we are able to collect and resume payouts and withdrawals upon payment. Although withdrawals are temporarily on hold, Flint ascertains that the company is stable and that this will be resolved as we move forward.”
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