Venture capital firm Seedin suspends payouts

MANILA, Philippines — A digital crowdfunding portal supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is investigating its former chief executive over allegedly fraudulent activity, resulting in a temporary halt to withdrawals or payouts to stakeholders.

In a statement over the weekend, financial technology firm Seedin Technology Inc. announced that former chief Edison Tsai — accused of conducting “anomalous transactions”—was replaced by Neil Raymundo, who was the company’s finance operations and compliance officer.

Seedin said it uncovered a “possible and apparent fraudulent act” by Tsai, who was also the company’s founder.

With over 20 years of experience in information management projects, Tsai was a director of payment service solution ExpressPay Inc. until he resigned, effective Dec. 20, 2023.

The company did not disclose details about Tsai’s transactions, but they could “adversely affect or is likely to adversely affect its ability to meet its obligations or to carry out its functions.”

‘Fraudulent act’

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, crowdfunding intermediaries like Seedin offer or sell “securities of a limited scale usually for startups, MSMEs done through an online electronic platform.”

The Inquirer reached out to Tsai, but he declined to comment amid the ongoing investigation.

“To prevent further anomalous transactions of Mr. Tsai, Seedin immediately replaced Mr. Tsai as president of the company with Mr. Neil Raymundo, a well-respected individual in the business community,” the company said.

Raymundo has over 30 years of experience in various sectors, including insurance, banking, property development, retail, hospitality and fintech.