Funding Societies signs $50m credit facility to drive SME growth in SE Asia

Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s largest SME digital financing platform, announced that it signed a $50-million credit facility* with HSBC Singapore to continue expanding the firm’s 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.

“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,” said Kelvin Teo, co-founder and group CEO of Funding Societies.

Commercial lending in Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16.5%, generating a revenue of more than $7 trillion by 2028 – which makes up about 25% of the global market size of $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. SMEs make up 97% of all enterprises in Southeast Asia, bringing 40% of GDP value across the region.

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.

The firm 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.