Asia fintech player Oriente raises $105m in seed funding

Investors included members of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group, Malaysia’s Berjaya Group, and the Philippines’ JG Summit Holdings. It is being touted as one of the largest ever initial funding rounds in Asia and one of the largest fintech seed rounds globally.

Oriente was founded in 2017 by former Skype co-founder Geoffrey Prentice, former founding CTO and COO of LU.com Hubert Tai, and Lawrence Chu, founder of BlackPine. The company, which uses artificial intelligence and data technologies for financial inclusion programs in emerging economies, has more than 1,200 employees across Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

“How Oriente is using data science and technology to unlock the economic potential of millions of people who are undervalued by traditional financial systems is exciting and meaningful,” Mark Tluszcz, CEO of Mangrove Capital Partners, said in a statement. “Oriente’s world-class management team is already on track to transform the lives of millions of consumers.”

Oriente’s operations include technology development related to real-time credit scoring, and digital and online-to-offline lending services, with a focus on Southeast Asia. The company has two app-based products known as Cashalo in the Philippines and Finmas In Indonesia. It claims that both services are experiencing “unprecedented growth” in user base and transaction volumes.

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

• Topics
• Greater China
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Hong Kong (China)
• Financial Services
• BlackPine Private Equity Partners
• seed