ADDX appoints new CEO and targets US$1b of deals on private market platform

She joined ADDX as chief commercial officer in January 2020 back when it was known as iSTOX

Oi-Yee Choo, a seasoned capital markets expert, will lead private market platform ADDX through the next stage of its growth after being appointed as chief executive officer.

Her appointment is designed to kickstart the tokenisation platform’s next stage of growth, beginning with recording US$1 billion of transactions by 2023 and swiftly following its launch in 2020, after becoming one of the first digital securities exchanges to graduate from the Monetary Authority of Singapore Fintech Regulatory Sandbox.

Choo comments: “Reaching a critical mass will signal that we are the primary venue for any issuer or investor looking to deal in private market investments. It will strengthen our ability to achieve our mission of ensuring fair and equal access to the private markets for all—including, ultimately, retail investors.”

“The end game is a much better world than the one we live in—truly diversified portfolios not just for sovereign wealth funds and pensions funds, but every person on the street. Barriers to capital flows will be reduced significantly, allowing funds to reach the worthiest projects. This generates innovation, economic growth, jobs and government revenue.” 

ASSX has chosen a seasoned capital markets expert to lead its next stage of growth. Choo has more than 20 years of experience, gained during role at banks such as Morgan Stanley, Nomura and Citigroup, with a history of working on notable mergers and acquisition and initial public offering deals, including the listing of Suntec REIT and Parkway Life REIT on SGX.

She joined ADDX as chief commercial officer in January 2020 back when it was known as iSTOX, moving from UBS, where she was head of investment banking for Singapore.

In her new role, Choo will oversee a platform whose total transactions exceeded US$150 million in 2021, with the lion’s share coming from individual accredited investors from 27 countries spanning the Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas (excluding the US). 

ADDX expects the pace of its expansion to accelerate further in 2022 and 2023, with the impending launch of institutional and corporate investor accounts, and individual account openings now growing at a rate of 120% per year.

By 2023, the total number of deals completed on the platform is likely to multiply by at least four times to reach 100, up from the 24 deals completed by the end of 2021, according to ADDX.

The ADDX platform uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to automate manual processes in the issuance, custody, distribution and secondary trading of private market products.

The resulting efficiency from this tokenisation allows the platform to fractionalise investments from US$1 million to US$10,000, according to ADDX. This gives issuers access to previously untapped capital pools and reduces both the cost and minimum threshold of fundraising projects. 

In January 2021, ICHX Tech, which operates the ADDX platform, announced a series A funding round worth US$50 million. The fintech company is backed by Singapore Exchange, Temasek subsidiary Heliconia Capital and Japan state-backed investors JIC Venture Growth Investments and the Development Bank of Japan.

ICHX Tech is in the process of creating a new subsidiary to oversee ADDX, which Choo will lead.

Image: ADDX

Mark Dugdale