Advance.AI raises $50m, targets Southeast Asia expansion

The Chinese participants include Vision Capital, GSR Ventures, ZhenFund and Alpha Startups. On the Southeast Asian side, commitments came from Farallon Capital, Northstar Group, and Provident Capital. The latter two investors have a strong focus on Indonesia, while Farallon is pan-regional.

Advance.AI was founded in 2016 by Jefferson Chen, a partner at GSR and formerly an investor at Farallon. It provides credit assessment, anti-fraud and risk control solutions for financial institutions, telecom operators, internet companies and online finance businesses, using big data analysis and artificial intelligence-enabled (AI) processing.

The company’s core products are: Advance Guardian, an anti-fraud detection service that verifies a person’s identify, employment data and credit history on submission of a loan application; Advance Booster, an AI consultancy service that assesses a client’s internal data collection and evaluation capabilities; Advance Hours, a facial recognition engine; and Advance Connect, which uses a client’s existing data to develop targeted marketing initiatives. 

There is also a cross-border asset management business through which high net worth individuals in China can gain exposure to investments in Southeast Asia, according to a GSR statement. Advance.AI claims that its big data-based risk controls offer clients protection and help achieve a stable return on investment.

The company’s corporate customers in Southeast Asia include ride-hailing and delivery platform Go-Jek and e-commerce business Tokopedia, both of which are based in Indonesia, Malaysian telecom giant Axiata, and various banks. It also works with consumer finance companies and peer-to-peer lending platforms such as WeCash, Rupiah Plus, Kredit Pintar, and Ayopop.

Dong Shou, Advance.AI’s COO, said the company wants to help deepen financial service penetration in China and Southeast Asia, where many people are not covered by traditional banks. Expansion in Southeast Asia is a priority, with Shou noting that the population is more than 600 million yet credit card coverage is less than 3%.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Financials
• Technology
• Southeast Asia
• China
• GSR Ventures
• ZhenFund
• Northstar Group
• Provident Capital
• Farallon Capital