Singapore fintech wins Asia’s biggest fundraising since US bank collapse
SINGAPORE – Fintech company Kredivo Holdings raised about S$270 million ($359 million) in equity funding, defying a market correction that has made it difficult for many start-ups to raise new capital.
The Singapore-based firm, formerly known as FinAccel and operator of fintech platform Kredivo and Krom Bank Indonesia, entered into a financing deal led by Mizuho Financial Group, it said in a statement on Thursday without disclosing its valuation. Existing investors including Square Peg Capital, Jungle Ventures and Naver Corp. also participated in the series D round.
Kredivo’s round is the largest announced in Asia since Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse shocked the startup ecosystem earlier this month.
The collection shows that some start-ups are still finding capital even though the venture industry is struggling with rising interest rates, increased inflation and a technological downturn. Investors, once excited to write checks, are becoming more discerning and doling out less favorable terms.
Last year, Kredivo sought financing at a pre-money valuation of US$1.5 billion after its planned merger with a blank check company collapsed. Before that, it had reached a value of around $2 billion.
The company, whose services include buy-now, pay-later financing, will use the funds to build its presence in offline stores and expand into Indonesia’s highly competitive digital banking space, Abhijay Sethia, chief strategy officer at Kredivo, said in an interview.
The region’s fintech players are aggressively expanding their suite of financial services in Indonesia, a country of around 273 million people where many have limited access to bank accounts and credit cards. Kredivo has been offering consumer loans and payments for seven years, giving it an edge against competitors from industries such as e-commerce, driving and gaming, Sethia said.
“What Indonesians need at this time is access to credit, which is what they have been sorely lacking for years,” he said.
Kredivo’s peer, Ant Group-backed Akulaku, has a stake in Jakarta-based Bank Neo Commerce while Singapore’s Sea Ltd. acquired Bank BKE in 2021 to gain a foothold in the fintech arena.
Ride-hailing and food delivery platform Grab Holdings teamed up with Singapore Telecommunications to buy a minority stake in Bank Fama – now Super Bank Indonesia – while rival Gojek in 2021 spent about $160 million to increase its stake in PT Bank Jago. BLOOMBERG
