Hong Kong e-commerce financier secures $250m in debt funding
Hong Kong-based FundPark, a VC-backed liquidity provider for e-commerce merchants, has received an asset-backed securitisation (ABS) facility of up to USD 250m from Goldman Sachs.
Integrated Alternative Credit Fund and Cypress Capital Hong Kong also participated as mezzanine investors.
FundPark expects to raise a Series B round later in the year. The company previously received an undisclosed sum from Indonesia-based Indogen Capital in 2018 and a USD 4m round led by Cornerstone Ventures in 2019. Indogen participated in another round in 2020. No details were given as to the size.
The latest financing will serve to bridge the working capital needs of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in cross-border e-commerce. The facility will also diversify FundPark's capital base and ensure a competitive cost of capital, said Anson Suen, the company's CEO and co-founder.
“We believe this is a testament to our strategic vision at FundPark of supporting SMEs in the e-commerce sector, by leveraging our proprietary risk assessment model and our market-leading position in this space,” he added.
Founded in 2016, FundPark looks to serve as a one-stop financing solution for e-commerce start-ups that want to enhance working capital efficiency. Capital is sourced from institutional investors, commercial banks and other financial institutions. Long-term partners include Silverhorn’s impact investment arm.
To date, the company has extended loans of over USD 600m to over 7,000 merchants responsible for a combined gross merchandise value (GMV) in excess of USD 4 bn. FundPark claims to process applications speedily, often dispatching funds within one business day, thanks to its proprietary risk assessment model and ecosystem of strategic partners.
SMEs represent 96% of all businesses in Asia, yet 40% of them have their trade finance requests rejected by traditional lenders. This contributes to a USD 1.7trn trade finance gap, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Elsewhere in this space, Shenzhen-based Dowsure has developed credit-checking software that enables banks to lend to small-scale e-commerce vendors. It secured a USD 20m Series B in February.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Qupital claims to be the largest online financing platform for SMEs in the territory and wants to become a leading digital financial institution for e-commerce sellers globally. It raised a USD 150m Series B round last November, which included a securitisation facility component. This was said to represent the first e-commerce merchant financing securitisation in Asia.
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