Lendable led US $20 M debt facility secured by Filipino BNPL player BillEase
Consumer financing and buy-now-pay-later apps in the Philippines Lendable, an emerging market credit provider, has provided BillEase with a US $20 million financing facility.
BillEase previously secured US $11 million in Series B fundraising from investors such as BurdaPrincipal Investments, MDI Ventures, and KB Investment.
Georg Steiger, CEO and Co-Founder of First Digital Finance Corporation (FDFC), the operator of BillEase, said, “With Lendable’s support, we will be able to continue the strong growth in customer onboarding and expand our loan portfolio. We share the same focus on creating financing solutions that serve the emerging consumer segment as the Lendable team.”
BillEase was founded in 2017 to help merchants increase their conversion rate and average order value by providing tailored instalment payment products at checkout.
BillEase now offers over 700 merchant partners, ranging from Philippine Airlines tickets to Havaianas flip flops, Harman Kardon speakers to Coleman/Focus Global ice chests.
When buying online, BillEase can be used as an alternative to credit/debit cards and e-wallets. They are granted a credit limit that they may use at any of BillEase’s merchant partners, such as Kimstore, a gadget shop, or Philippine Airlines. Customers do not need to fill up their accounts before making purchases online or offline, unlike standard debit cards and e-wallets.
Personal loans, e-wallet top-ups and popular wallets like GCash, PayMaya, Coins.ph, GrabPay, and ShopeePay, mobile loads, and gaming credits are all available through the BillEase app in addition to BNPL.
BillEase said that their Q1 2022 volumes were over 5 times higher than the same period last year, and that the firm had already reached profitability in 2021.
The Philippines has lately gained considerable investor interest, particularly in the fintech industry, owing to the potential influence fintech businesses may have on the lives of the country’s expanding middle-class population.
“The Philippines represents a huge and untapped opportunity for fintech. The population is young, tech-savvy and largely underbanked. Several regulatory initiatives are coming together to significantly improve market infrastructure – instant retail payment networks, National ID, national credit bureau, digital banking licenses, just to name a few. The adoption of digital transactions also just got a massive push through the extended lockdowns. We are starting to see the shape of things to come but we are barely scratching the surface. This will be one of the most exciting fintech markets globally over the next five years.” Steiger added.
