AsiaKredit’s Pera247 Raises US$1.5 Million for Digital Consumer Lending
Up to 100,000 loan applications processed since November 2017 launch in the Philippines
Company to use new capital injection for loan capital, to enhance proprietary technology platform, expand underwriting and collections infrastructure, and launch new products
SINGAPORE, JUNE 26, 2018 – AsiaKredit, a digital consumer lender focused on Southeast Asia, today announced that it has raised USD2.5 million since its launch in November 2017 after the latest investment from global technology investment firm SIG Asia Investments.
Through its pera247 mobile application launched in the Philippines in November last year, AsiaKredit currently provides unsecured small-ticket, short-term consumer loans for up to 90 days to the over 80 million unbanked and underbanked in the country with limited or no banking history. Designed to provide the shortest real-time credit decision by any platform on the market (where time-todecision and-time-to-money is fulfilled within hours), pera247 uses data-driven credit assessment tools to analyse mobile behavioral data and other alternative sources of data to make fast and reliable credit decisions. The platform has since demonstrated rapid improvement in portfolio quality and reached product-level profitability within four months of its launch.
SIG noted that AsiaKredit is building a market-leading, fully digital lending platform that provides millions of financially excluded people in the Philippines with fast and convenient access to credit; something that the traditional banking sector is not always able to provide. In addition, they also noted that the team brings with them strong track records in fintech and consumer finance that can be seen in their sophisticated data-driven underwriting and collections capabilities. This is an area that sets them apart from other emerging lenders in the region.
Mr. Michael Singh, chief executive officer and co-founder of AsiaKredit, said, “We are thrilled to have SIG on board. SIG has a proven track record in identifying winners in this space, having invested early in digital lenders that have later listed on NASDAQ and in companies at the forefront of alternative credit scoring in Asia. pera247 further endeavors to capitalise on the portfolio relationships within SIG’s many other companies invested in the region. We are delighted that SIG shares our vision of building AsiaKredit into a leading Southeast Asian digital lender.”
“Although we currently focus on short-term loans on the higher end of the risk spectrum, we plan to move into longer duration, lower risk products such as personal instalment loans in the next six to 12 months,” added Mr. Michael Singh.
AsiaKredit will use the new funds for loan capital, to enhance its proprietary technology platform and underwriting and collections infrastructure, and develop new products. Within six months of its launch, AsiaKredit has processed over 100,000 loan applications, and is seeing over 100 per cent customer growth each month, with over 50 per cent repeat customers. Customers have the option to withdraw funds and make payments through over 10,000 cash centers.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted in a 2017 report that the widespread use of digital finance has the ability to provide access to financial services for 224 million people and increase the volume of loans by USD295 billion in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines specifically, ADB estimates that digital finance could boost GDP by about three per cent, lead to more than USD4 billion in additional credit uptake, and mobilise more than USD7 billion in savings.
AsiaKredit raised pre-series A and seed funding from FORUM, the largest fintech venture builder in Emerging Asia; Fintonia Group, the leading earlystage fintech investor in Southeast Asia; as well as Reliance Indonesia Group and Space Ventures.