Sequoia leads $7.5m investment in Singapore crowdfunding platform

Funding Societies will use the new capital to improve its customer experience and regulatory compliance in the markets where it operates - Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The company's Indonesian platform is known as "Modalku."

Since its founding last year, Funding Societies has provided about S$8.5 million ($6.3 million) in loans to 100 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore and Malaysia; Modalku has provided about $750,000 to 30 Indonesian SMEs. The platforms allow business owners to solicit loans from the public. They target retail investors, high net worth individuals and institutional investors to provide capital.

The company received early support from Jakarta-based Alpha JWC Ventures, which also participated in this round. Will Ongkowidjaja, co-founder and managing partner of Alpha JWC, said in a statement: "What makes Funding Societies truly special is Kelvin Teo and his co-founder Reynold Wijaya's bold vision, their belief in making an impact to help SMEs, and their ability to inspire best-in-class people to join their journey."

The deal comes amid increasing investor interest in Southeast Asia's financial technology space. Earlier this year PayPal launched an incubation program in Singapore to offer infrastructure, mentorship and direction to local fintech start-ups; Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank has also announced a fintech investment strategy including a $50 million venture capital budget aimed at local start-ups.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Venture
• Singapore
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Crowdfunding