Maybank Announces Strategic Investment in Funding Societies, Southeast Asia's Largest MSME Digital Finance Platform

SINGAPORE, Sept. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Maybank, a dedicated banking partner to more than 1 million small and medium enterprises across ASEAN, today announced a strategic investment in Funding Societies | Modalku (Funding Societies), the largest unified digital finance platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia. In conjunction with this investment, Maybank will explore collaborative synergies with Funding Societies to promote inclusivity and bridge funding gaps within the communities it serves.

The transaction represents the inaugural investment under a new initiative at Maybank to strategically invest and partner with best-in-class digitally-enabled organisations across ASEAN. This investment forms part of Maybank's approach to accelerate innovation to serve the MSME community. It aligns with Maybank's M25+ strategic thrust, aiming to accelerate digitalisation through ecosystem orchestration within and beyond the banking sector.

Established in 2015, Funding Societies is a regional financial technology company that specialises in providing financing to MSMEs. Since its inception, Funding Societies has disbursed over US$4 billion in business financing, positively impacting more than 100,000 businesses across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Dato' Khairussaleh Ramli, President & Group CEO of Maybank, stated, "Maybank has consistently championed small and medium enterprises– the backbone of ASEAN economies. Our investment in Funding Societies underscores our commitment to driving financial inclusion, in line with our purpose of Humanising Financial Services. By leveraging our banking expertise alongside Funding Societies' innovative digital platform, Maybank is committed to fostering a robust SME ecosystem and ensuring a brighter, more sustainable future for all."

Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies, Mr Kelvin Teo expressed, "We are honoured by Maybank's support, reflecting a shared commitment to serve MSMEs in Southeast Asia. This partnership reaffirms our dedication to extending credit access to underserved MSMEs that face cash flow management challenges – an area we are progressively expanding to help these businesses fulfil their business potential."

About Maybank
Maybank is among Asia's leading financial groups and Southeast Asia's fourth largest bank by asset with close to 44,000 employees worldwide. The Group has an international network of some 2,600 offices in 18 countries including all 10 ASEAN countries and also present in international financial centres such as London, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai. With a purpose to Humanise Financial Services and guided by its M25+ strategy, Maybank provides any array of value-based solutions established on sustainable and ethical principles to meet its customers evolving needs. These extensive range of products and services, include consumer and corporate banking, investment banking, Islamic banking, stock broking, insurance and takaful and asset management. (www.maybank.com)

About Funding Societies
Funding Societies 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). In recent years, it has made strategic milestones including its acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp and co-investment into Bank Index in Indonesia.

Funding Societies | Modalku is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, CGC Digital (the digital arm of the Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad), SBVA (previously SoftBank Ventures Asia), Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia Capital India), Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, BRI Ventures, VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Endeavor, EBDI, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures among others.

It has received accolades through the years including: Brands for Good (2019, 2023), Global SME Excellence Award, Global SME Finance Awards by IFC (2021-2023) Global Startup Awards (2020), MAS FinTech Award (2016, 2021), Singapore's Fastest-Growing Companies 2024 (a list of 100 companies compiled by The Straits Times and Statista), High-Growth Companies in Asia-Pacific 2024 (a list of 500 companies compiled by the Financial Times and Statista). 

For more information, please visit: www.fundingsocieties.com