Japan’s SBI Group leads $6.7m funding in SG fintech startup banco

Singapore-headquartered fintech startup banco (RABC Group) announced the successful raise of $6.7 million in Series A funding led by Japan-based leading financial group SBI Group, alongside investors Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), R3, Savills, KZM & Company, and others.

With this fundraise, banco will look towards recruiting talents with technology and business development expertise, as well as, market expansion within the Southeast Asia region.

Founded in 2018, banco (RABC Group) is headquartered in Singapore with subsidiaries in China and Japan. The banco platform leverages the digital capabilities of the RABC group’s expertise in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) lending and close industry partnerships, to develop sector-focused and sustainable financial solutions for MSMEs.

Moving forward, the group will focus on offering green financing solutions for MSMEs and corporates in optimising cash flow and improving sustainability in their entire value chain.

banco has also recently partnered with leading real estate advisor, Savills (Singapore) to digitise financing solutions and enhance sustainability practices in the property industry. With more industry partnerships in the pipeline, banco aims to reach out to more than 1000 MSMEs in 2022.

“We are excited to lead banco’s Series-A fundraising together with our strategic partners, SMBC, and R3. There would be collaborations among SBI, SMBC, R3, and banco, to offer more inclusive financing solutions and achieve ESG targets for SMEs in Asia. We believe that banco will grow to be the leader in its sector.” says Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO, SBI Holdings.

The SBI Group, founded in 1999, has achieved significant growth by offering varieties of financial services beneficial to consumers by riding the two major trends of “financial deregulation” and the “Internet Revolution.”

In Japan, the SBI Group has fully utilised the Internet as its main channel and accomplished creating a financial ecosystem in the Financial Services Business centering on securities, banking and insurance, to become a unique comprehensive financial group that could not be seen anywhere else in the world.