Funding Societies crosses US$3 billion in SME Lending, doubles down to continue supporting SMEs' needs in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, 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 as it continues to support underserved SMEs via its extensive range of short-term financing solutions.

Local Milestone in Vietnam

Having entered Vietnam in 2022 as its newest market, after VNG Corporation's Series C+ investment, Funding Societies has facilitated upwards of 70 Million USD of financing to Vietnamese SMEs across agriculture, construction and services sectors, among others.

"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 localized financing propositions; secured our first credit line from a global commercial bank HSBC with $50 million, entered into payments with CardUp and investment into Bank Index, because SMEs' needs extend beyond financing," said Kelvin Teo, Co-Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer of Funding Societies | Modalku.

"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 as part of move into becoming a unified digital finance platform

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.

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 payments competencies into Funding Societies. Together, the platform now covers Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam; with operations in Hong Kong and India too.

The acquisition is part of the company's move to expand into its newly-established payments vertical following the launch of Elevate, a business expense solution that comes with a credit line – currently available in Singapore. This solution will be introduced into Vietnam from 2024.