Thailand-based SCB Abacus raised US $12 M to accelerate product development
SCB Abacus, a Thailand-based alternative digital lending platform, revealed that its Series A fundraising round was oversubscribed. This round of investment was led by Openspace Ventures, with Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and CAI Partners also participating.
The money will be used to speed up product development and expansion, enhance the company’s technological infrastructure and underwriting skills, and hire more people, according to a news release.
The firm also indicated that by the end of 2022, it aims to secure a Series B investment round, with “a fivefold expansion of its existing loan portfolio compared to 2021.”
SCB Abacus is a local banking fintech spin-off that allows the firm to combine “the resources of a prominent national bank with the skills and scale-up experience of international venture capitalists.”
MoneyThunder, the company’s primary product, is a digital unsecured lending service that caters to Thailand’s under-banked populace. To underwrite loans and deliver a totally automated approval experience for consumers, the platform takes advantage of SCB Abacus’ in-house artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities.
It also allows for a quick registration and application procedure that takes only five to twenty minutes.
“The company’s current mission is to create better access to finance through inclusive digital lending platforms. Today, at least 60 percent of our borrowers were previously denied bank loans. With the use of our in-house machine learning credit models and AI technology, we can assess borrowers using alternative information and provide a fast and seamless loan process. We envision wider usage of our data infrastructures in other non-financial sectors as well,” said Dr. Sutapa Amornvivat, founder and CEO of SCB Abacus.
MoneyThunder reported it has had over five million application downloads as of August, with loan disbursements growing by a factor of ten in 2021 compared to 2020.
In March, lead investor Openspace Ventures announced the completion of its third Southeast Asian fund, which raised $200 million. It recently invested in Kumu; a live streaming company located in the Philippines.
