Financial Supermarket GoBear Buys Digital Lender AsiaKredit

Asian financial supermarket GoBear announced today its acquisition of AsiaKredit, a digital lender based in Singapore, for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition, GoBear said, will bolster its plans to expand its business and regional reach. The company will expand its alternate consumer lending services, one of the three key business pillars of GoBear, with the acquisition.

Based in Singapore, AsiaKredit provides consumer finance products to underserved consumers in the Philippines. It has processed over 1 million loan applications through its flagship mobile app, pera247. According to the announcement, the company’s credit assessment decisions take place in a matter of minutes and time to cash disbursements in hours.

The establishment of industry-leading lending business is a critical component of GoBear’s strategy to support its banking partners in providing loans to the many underserved consumers in Asia, the company said.

“The acquisition will allow GoBear to accelerate strategic plans by giving us access to end-to-end digital lending capabilities,” said GoBear CEO Adrian Chng.

The acquisition comes a year after GoBear announced raising $80 million and posting over 100 percent growth in revenue from its consumer finance products.

The deal is also significant in Southeast Asia, where access to credit remains a challenge for many. According to a study conducted by Bain & Company, more than 70 percent of the region’s population, or 296 million people, are currently underbanked or unbaked.

With economic growth in developing countries set to decline sharply in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, providing consumers with access to credit will become increasingly important.

“This acquisition represents a fantastic opportunity for AsiaKredit to leverage GoBear’s regional presence and expand the reach of our credit lending services to Southeast Asia and Hong Kong’s underserved consumers. We are excited to take the AsiaKredit platform beyond the Philippines in the next phase of our growth,” said Mike Singh, co-founder and CEO of AsiaKredit.

Recently, Southeast Asia’s first pure-play digital bank, Singapore-based Tonik Financial, closed an equity funding round that raked in $6 million, co-led by venture capital firms Insignia Ventures Partners and Credence Partners.