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Hello there,
The growth of a startup is never linear – we know that much.
Funding Societies, however, has taken this idea to a new level. In the few years I’ve reported on the company, I’ve described the firm as a peer-to-peer platform, an SME lender, and a digital bank hopeful. Now, it’s in payments too – SME payments, that is.
Earlier this year, the firm launched Elevate, a payments card for small and medium-sized enterprises that provides interest-free credit to those that pass a credit underwriting process on top of the typical know-your-customer procedure.
Funding Societies is also pending regulatory approval for its acquisition of CardUp, which will digitalize things from rent, payroll, and payments collection for SMEs.
What’s notable is that the firm appears to have grown from being a lender to operating in payments and not the other way around, which we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from many tech companies.
As my colleague Samreen noted in this week’s Big Story, there may be benefits to going from lending to payments.
Meanwhile, just days after Grab’s very first investor day, the company said it’s aiming to launch its digital banks in Malaysia and Indonesia by 2023. Our reporter Putra breaks down the odds for the super app in Indonesia’s crowded digibank space in this week’s Hot Take.
– Melissa
THE BIG STORIES
1️⃣ Funding Societies swipes right on payments in SEA
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The fintech startup will focus on the “less digitized” business payments segment for SMEs in the region.
2️⃣ Ant Group-backed 2C2P’s profit, revenue narrow in 2021
THE HOT TAKE
NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
FYI
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