ARA makes foray into fintech, furthering role of real estate digitalization in the future economy

APM Property Management, the property management arm of ARA Asset Management, and John Lim, co-founder of ARA, have jointly acquired a majority stake in Minterest, a Singapore-based crowdfunding platform.

The deal, which reflects ARA’s forward-looking take on financial technology and the role of real estate digitalization in the future economy, seeks to expand the alternative finance platform to meet the growing demand for crowdfunding and is the group’s first foray into the fintech sector.

Janice Koh, director of fintech at APM, added, “Traditionally, investors who want to own real estate would have to acquire the physical property or invest in REITs. Today, technology has opened the doors to real estate investment in exciting new ways. Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular way for developers to access the working capital required for development projects and for investors to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns without the need to come up with a large amo