By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
The ArawakX crowdfunding platform is upgrading its website to address the difference between what is pledged by investors and the actual amount a company raises from an offering.
D’Arcy Rahming Sr, ArawakX's chief executive, told Tribune Business that the company’s website and entire system are presently “down for an upgrade" as they seek to make them more user friendly for both investors and listed companies.
One of the issues set to be addressed is the difference between what a company raises from a crowdfund offering as opposed to what investors pledge, or promise, to invest. ArawakX's website presently shows the total pledges made, which are typically much higher than what a company receives when its offering closes, because often-times investor promises do not translate into actual investments or, if they do, only partial investments.
Amid concerns that this can give a misleading impression of crowdfunding outcomes, Mr Rahming replied: “The website is putting pledges down, and then the actual amount that is raised. So the website records pledges. Somebody says: 'I want to buy 100 shares', and then if they don't pay for the 100 shares, that pledge amount is what you're seeing on the website. You're not seeing the actual raise amount.”
Changing this feature to reflect the raised amount, as opposed to the pledged amount, is “part of the upgrade" that will last another couple of weeks. “What's happening is that people, issuers as well as subscribers, do have comments and so when you do major upgrades, you have to take those comments into effect," Mr Rahming said.
“So we are a learning organisation, and we are a listening organisation, so what we're doing is we're taking everybody's comments and then we put it into upgrades. So before we come out again with the new listings, which we expect to come out in June, we want to make sure that we've corrected any issues or problems that have been noted.”
Mr Rahming said the upgrades are more than simply changing an html code or even java script, because ArawakX is a Fintech (financial technology) operation that has to calibrate the user interface as well as calculate what was pledged, paid and outstanding to corporate issuers.
“It's with our developers now, and since we didn't have any issues out, we thought this was an appropriate time before we put our next issues out to review and to make changes that have been recommended to make it more easier and understandable,” he added.
The next phase for Arawak X's website will be the introduction of “online courses and learning modules", so that persons who do not have time to attend a seminar can access a free course where they can educate themselves on investing via the crowdfunding platform.
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