An online lending platform for small and medium companies (SMEs) in Southeast Asia, Finance Societies (also known as Modalku in Indonesia), has acquired US $18 million in debt funding.
Helicap Investments, Social Impact Debt Fund, and an undisclosed Japanese financial services firm are the round’s lead investors.
Funding societies is on pace to raise US $120 million in institutional financing, thanks to funding from European impact investors such as Triodos Investment Management for Indonesian company loans.
The additional monies will be used by Funding Societies to lend to qualified MSMEs, furthering their objective of facilitating financial inclusion in the area.
Funding Societies, which was founded in 2015, provides business financing to MSMEs. It uses technology to provide financial access to underserved yet creditworthy MSMEs through its digital platform.
MSMEs in Southeast Asia account for more than half of each ASEAN Member State’s GDP. Traditional financial institutions typically turn them down for business financing because they lack a good credit history or collateral.
Alternative data points, such as the MSME’s cash flow – its ability to repay the loan — are used by Funding Societies to underwrite these loans, allowing access to funding.
Funding Societies, which is licensed in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, claims to have assisted in the financing of over 4.8 million company loans totaling over US $1.5 billion in the previous six years.
Samsung Venture Investment Corporation invested an unknown sum in the loan firm in December 2020. (SVIC). It had received US $40 million in April, just a few months before.
Sequoia India and Softbank Ventures Asia are among its other sponsors.
Helicap is a Singapore-based alternative lending business that invests in private loans for authorized investors such as family offices, high-net-worth individuals, impact funds, and institutional investors.
