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FinTech Marketplace Firm Validus Helps Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Scale Using Visa's Virtual Card Solutions in Singapore

2017-06-21 20:39 7842

SINGAPORE, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global payments technology company, Visa has partnered with Validus, a leading FinTech platform, to provide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with virtual card solutions to help scale their businesses. The partnership seeks to unlock capital for SMEs to reinvest in their products and services. In Singapore, this is the first of its kind collaboration between a FinTech marketplace, a global bank and a leading payments company. The solution has been adopted by GroXers Inc Pte Ltd, a leading F&B distributor in Singapore.

(Left to right) Nichol Ng, Owner FoodXervices and GroXers; Nikhilesh Goel, COO, Validus; Vikram Kshettry, Head for B2B Partnerships and Small Business, Asia Pacific, VISA
(Left to right) Nichol Ng, Owner FoodXervices and GroXers; Nikhilesh Goel, COO, Validus; Vikram Kshettry, Head for B2B Partnerships and Small Business, Asia Pacific, VISA

Through this partnership, Validus works with Visa to facilitate immediate cash flow to SMEs, who have unpaid invoices in their payment cycles. By clearing invoices for SMEs using a Visa virtual commercial card, Validus helps SMEs expand faster and have a faster turnover for their products and services. The food & beverage (F&B) businesses, have to deal with a large number of buyers ranging from multinational corporations (MNCs) to smaller retail outlets. This large volume of invoices present a unique problem for banks, which may be reluctant to discount invoices payable by SME customers. Validus mitigates this risk for the suppliers.

COO Nikhilesh Goel highlighted, "Validus is adept at assessing SME credit because of our sophisticated risk algorithm, and extensive SME lending experience. We strongly believe that our combined solution with Visa outscores traditional factoring solutions. This is primarily because of its bespoke nature, 100 per cent buyer coverage, and strong technology support. This solution matches the appetite of accredited lenders and institutional investors, which forms our savvy investor base at Validus. Currently, we are collaborating with global banks to offer this solution regionally."

Validus also facilitates the tracking and management of invoice repayments via a sophisticated tech solution as opposed to the traditional manual approach, which is time-consuming and prone to error. This is enabled by Visa's commercial card solution and the fintech solution that Validus provides. This programme is part of Visa's ongoing efforts to support SMEs in Singapore and across the world.

According to Vikram Kshettry, Head for B2B Partnerships and Small Business Asia Pacific at Visa, "Small businesses often face challenges such as access to capital to fund their business growth and this makes them vulnerable. Similarly, suppliers for these businesses may be challenged to provide adequate credit, as they do not have the skills to underwrite higher credit lines. It is essential that businesses are able to access credit from specialist lenders to invest in their businesses, and for suppliers to be paid on time. The presence of such lenders, who can respond faster to business needs, is key to Singapore's continued SME growth."

GroXers Inc, a leading enterprise run by well-known Singaporean entrepreneur, Nichol Ng, stated that the solution has freed up their cash flows considerably.

"We have been looking for a solution that bridges the gap between our cash flow and account receivables and this is our biggest untapped asset. It is interesting to see how this solution has enabled us to receive our money faster and more seamlessly. At GroXers Inc, 100 per cent of our receivables from B2B retailers are now on credit card payment. We genuinely feel that in today's economy, we should free our time and cash flow to focus on growing our business," said Nichol, who is also Managing Director of GroXers Inc's sister companies FoodXervices Inc Pte Ltd, PlotX Inc Pte Ltd, LogiXtics Inc Pte Ltd, and X Properties Inc Pte Ltd.

According to her, FoodXervices Inc is also considering using the same solution.

Validus and Visa will look to increase their commitment to supporting SMEs in Singapore across a range of industries. This includes businesses that specialise in the distribution sector (e.g. Food & Beverages, FMCGs, consumer durables), services industries (e.g. construction, Information Technology, real estate, property management), and manufacturing (supply of goods from SMEs to large corporates).

About Visa

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks -- VisaNet -- that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit, or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations; however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit www.visa.com.sg  

About GroXers Inc Pte Ltd

GroXers Inc Pte Ltd (www.groXers.com) was established in May 2008 to fill a niche in the retail distribution market by providing personalised and professional service to discerning consumers. Its ambition is to become the provider of good brand names and food products in the retail sector. Beyond selling products, the company is about building brands and creative marketing. Driven by its vision to be a premier retail distributor, GroXers Inc is establishing a strong network of partners for its basket of good brands and products that its hopes will become household names that consumers can trust. In 2013, it launched GroXers.com (www.groXers.com), an online grocery website with more than 2,000 products.

About VALIDUS

Validus Capital Pte Ltd, founded in 2015, is an online invoice discounting marketplace focused on bridging cash flows to growing SMEs in Singapore. Till date Validus has facilitated disbursals of over SGD 21m. Validus has built an experienced management team led by a CEO with over 30 years of SME banking experience across Citibank, Fullerton (Bank Danamon) and DBS. Validus has a triple layer risk algorithm built in partnership with the Credit Research Initiative (CRI) team of NUS-RMI using forward-looking Probability Default (PD) as a building block. It is also the only platform in Singapore to have an Insurance cover from EQ Insurance, for lenders on the platform (up to 90% capital protection for lenders participating in invoice financing deals). With institutional participation on the platform from accredited investors, leading family offices and hedge funds, Validus offers the investors opportunities to participate in the growth of Singaporean SMEs.

www.validus.sg

For further information and details, please contact:

Vikas Nahata
Director & Co-founder
Validus Capital Pte Ltd.
+65-90165417
vikas@validus.sg

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170621/1881480-1

Source: Validus Capital Pte Ltd
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