Funding Societies crosses US$3 billion in SME Lending, doubles down beyond financing to bolster support for SMEs' needs

SINGAPORE, April 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Funding Societies | Modalku, the largest unified SME digital finance platform in Southeast Asia, announced it has achieved US$3 billion (S$4.1 billion) over more than 5 million transactions of business financing to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across the region. As the company expands across five countries in Southeast Asia, almost 100,000 SMEs have benefited from the access to financing. It continues to support underserved SMEs via its extensive range of short-term financing solutions, while achieving an overall platform cohort default rate under 2%.

In its move to empower SMEs the company began offering solutions beyond lending, such as payments and collections. Since establishing its payments business, Funding Societies has tripled its Gross Transaction Value (GTV) year-on-year through its proprietary solution Elevate, and its integration of CardUp's payments solutions for FY2022.

Kelvin Teo, Co-founder & Group Chief Executive Officer, Funding Societies | Modalku said, "2022 was a big year for Funding Societies despite the uncertain macro environment. Committed to empowering SMEs in Southeast Asia, we've raised our Series C+; scaled up in Thailand and Vietnam; deepened localised financing propositions; secured our first credit line from a global commercial bank HSBC with US$50 million, entered into payments with CardUp and investment into Bank Index, because SMEs' needs extend beyond financing."

"While there are macro headwinds this year, we are optimistic to continue growing sustainably, like we did in Covid-19. We will continue to stay nimble, innovate and scale up in financing,  payments and other financial services – catering to various pain points of SMEs," he added.

Welcoming CardUp to the Group

Another significant milestone was the acquisition of CardUp, a digital payments platform. Both entities are currently developing a unified digital finance platform for SMEs. The acquisition has also brought in critical payments talent into Funding Societies. Together, the platform now covers Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam; with operations in Hong Kong and India too.

Going beyond lending to help SMEs Elevate in their business

Funding Societies also introduced its groundbreaking business expense solution that comes with a credit line –  Elevate. SMEs enjoy faster access to credit as their applications receive approval from the first business day. Since its launch in Singapore, Funding Societies has served nearly 2,000 SMEs, with Elevate being their first corporate card. These businesses operate within a range of sectors including construction; information and communications; manufacturing; professional, scientific and technical; and wholesale and retail trade.

The unified SME digital finance platform is exploring to introduce Elevate in its other markets too. This will benefit SMEs facing challenges accessing credit to make payments for their business expenditures. Combining Elevate or other cards SMEs have with CardUp, SMEs will be able to use their cards in places that do not accept cards, and facilitate collections from their customers. CardUp's payments solutions will be introduced in stages across the other markets that Funding Societies operates in the next two years.

Local Milestone in Singapore

In 2022, the SME digital financing platform launched its Accounts Payable (AP) Financing solution. SMEs can finance their supplies even before they invoice their customers for work fulfilled, made possible via this facility which is uncommon in Singapore. Since introducing AP Financing, Funding Societies has financed over S$10 million in disbursements to SMEs with a majority of businesses in the wholesale trade, general contractors and systems installation.

About Funding Societies | Modalku

Funding Societies | Modalku is the largest unified SME digital finance platform in Southeast Asia. It is licensed in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, registered in Malaysia, and operates in Vietnam. The FinTech company provides US$1 billion annually of business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its recent strategic milestones include its acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp (subject to regulatory approval) and co-investment into Bank Index in Indonesia.

Funding Societies | Modalku 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, EBDI, SGInnovative, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures among others. 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 won the MAS FinTech Award for the second time, and received the Platinum award for Responsible Digital Innovator of the Year at the 2022 Global SME Finance Awards organised by IFC (under the World Bank Group).