LoanSolutions gets seed funding from international, Philippine investors

The LoanSolutions team.

Philippine­ startup LoanSolutions has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from a group of international and local investors, led by Singaporean VC KK Fund. Other investors who participated in the round included investment firm Kickstart Ventures and John Dang, co-founder and CEO of online property portal Zipmatch.

Founded by JP Bisson in 2014, LoanSolutions is a website that matches borrowers, mainly individuals and SMEs, with financial institutions. It puts borrowers first by using algorithms and hands-on concierge services in the form of loan advisors to ensure that borrowers can secure a competitive loan.

Koichi Saito, founder and general managing partner of KK Fund, says the expertise of the team was the key reason for their decision to invest in the startup.

“I highly [value] the digital marketing skills of JP Bisson who has led 50 employees at his digital marketing agency for more than three years,” he explains, referring to Bisson’s other firm, Clicklabs.

Dang, for his part, says he saw LoanSolutions as a potential partner for his other company, Zipmatch, in servicing the needs of Filipino home buyers. “Securing a loan is a challenging step in the home buying process and we believe that LoanSolutions is completely aligned with our vision.”

LoanSolutions joins its partner Lenddo in Kickstart Ventures’ investment portfolio. Lenddo is a company that uses algorithms in determining people’s credit trustworthiness based on their social media activities.

Financial disruption

LoanSolutions is among financial tech companies that are disrupting traditional services in the Philippines, and helping drive financial inclusion in the economy.

“Financial inclusion is a key development goal for emerging markets, and as incomes rise, access to financial services should likewise improve, but it hasn’t,” says Kickstart Ventures president Minette Navarrete.

“LoanSolutions helps develop financial markets by orchestrating a reliable, data-­driven environment for borrowers and lenders to get matches based on verified identities, and appropriate loan products.”

Bisson tells Tech in Asia his company is a “hybrid” of traditional loan brokers and online loan comparison portals, which means it is in a league of its own.

“We are the only company which combines the online aspect and the personal aspect. Unlike traditional loan agencies, we onboard our leads online. Unlike loan comparison portals, we supply banks with fully filled out applications, including documents,” he claims.

Borrowers come to LoanSolutions’ site and click on the type of loan they are looking for – whether it’s a personal, business, auto, or home loan. They answer a series of qualifying questions to start the process of matching them with the best banks and lending companies. LoanSolutions then validates the reason for why they are borrowing money, and asks them to submit pertinent documents. The startup takes care of the rest of the application process. If borrowers are disapproved, LoanSolutions presents them to another one of its partners.