Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s largest Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) digital financing platform, today announced the signing of a US$50 million credit facility* with HSBC Singapore to continue expanding the firm’s reach to serving underserved SMEs in the region.
Commercial lending in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5%, generating a revenue of more than US$7 trillion by 2028 – which makes up about 25% of the global market size of US$27.4 trillion. Generally, the digital experience for SMEs is still particularly underserved and is not at the same pace of digital transformation as with retail lending. Funding Societies has a track record of loan disbursement of over more than US$2.6 billion through more than 5.1 million transactions across the region. Through this new facility the fintech lender will be able to channel the funds via its range of tailored financing solutions across SME segments across all its five markets.
Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku, Kelvin Teo, said, “We’re honoured to receive such a sizeable facility from a global bank such as HSBC. This marks a critical milestone for us and is a testament to our credit track record through Covid-19. HSBC’s foresight, global capabilities and scalable approach further equips us to better satisfy the underserved SME segments in the region. We appreciate HSBC’s confidence in us and are excited about this signing.”
SMEs make up 97% of all enterprises in Southeast Asia bringing 40% of GDP value across the region. In Singapore, the Department of Statistics released in its 2021 report that 99% of enterprises are SMEs – which contributed to 44% of the nominal value added at approximately S$212 billion. The signing will enable HSBC to extend its global capabilities by tapping on the underserved segments across the region. Furthermore, HSBC will act as the structuring bank, lender, facility and security agent in providing a flexible, scalable and pan-regional financing solution to support Funding Societies’ business expansion in the region.
Regina Lee, Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Singapore, said, “As a leading SME digital financing platform, Funding Societies is playing an important role in contributing to Southeast Asia’s new economic growth by driving broader financial inclusion and supporting homegrown companies which are the building blocks of these economies. We are thrilled to support Funding Societies as they expand their reach to serving underserved SMEs in the region.”
This announcement comes at the heels of Funding Societies’ most recent acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp (subject to regulatory approvals), as part of a series of efforts to diversify its services beyond lending. The digital financing platform also achieved several strategic milestones including its Series C+ equity raise of US$144 million in February, its recent investment into Bank Index in Indonesia, and market entry into Vietnam – its fifth market.
*Commercial loan received by FS Capital Pte Ltd
About Funding Societies
Funding Societies | Modalku is the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia. It is licensed and registered in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and operates in Vietnam. It is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Sequoia Capital India, Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, BRI Ventures, VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Endeavor, EDBI, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures amongst others. The FinTech company provides business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and has a track record disbursement of US$2.6 billion in June 2022, annualising at US$1.1 billion. It was given the MAS FinTech Award in 2016, the Global SME Excellence Award at the United Nations’ ITU Telecom World in 2017, KPMG Fintech100 in 2018, Brands for Good in 2019, and ASEAN Startup of the Year by Global Startup Awards in 2020. In 2021, it was honourably mentioned as Responsible Digital Innovator of the Year by World Bank IFC SME Finance Forum and won the MAS Fintech award for the second time.
