Crowd funding is not allowed in Pakistan, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has said in an official statement, leaving techies wondering about the future of this otherwise highly lucrative source of funding for startups and projects.
SECP, in a statement issued last night, said that crowd funding is not an option for Pakistani startups and companies. It went on to clarify that a company working in the space of crowd funding called “Innovative Crowd Funding Project Pvt-Ltd Pakistan” is not registered with the Commission.
SECP, while alerting the masses, said that they should not do business with the firm or any other crowd funding website as the practice is illegal in the country.
SECP said that “Innovative Crowd Funding Project Pvt-Ltd Pakistan” is operating a Facebook page where it is explaining the concept, history and other details of crowd funding.
“It seems that the company is involved in raising funds through crowd funding. In this regard, the SECP would like to clarify that no company with the name of “Innovative Crowd Funding Project Pvt-Ltd Pakistan” is registered with it”, the statement read.
“It is further clarified that crowd funding is not allowed in Pakistan and no company can raise funds through this scheme”, the press statement further read.
In view of the above, the public is hereby warned not to be misled by fraudulent activities, investments/deposit schemes launched by certain non-corporate entities or individuals through advertising in the electronic and print media, websites, emails, mobile text messages etc.
