Philippine SME lender closes $4.1m pre-seed round to extend loan capabilities

The ProCredit team / Photo credit: ProCredit

In the Philippines, a staggering 99.5% of all businesses are SMEs. As of last year, 67% of local SMEs grappled with credit constraints – a lot of business owners found the friction that comes with traditional bank loans too much of a hassle.

One startup looking to solve this issue is ProCredit, a Filipino lending firm that engages business owners with its senior decision-makers from the get-go.

The company has raised US$4.1 million in a pre-seed round led by Integra Partners, with participation from the Menardo Jimenez Family Office, M Venture Partners (MVP), Cento Ventures, Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, and angel investors.

With its business model, ProCredit helps eliminate the need for the usual layered decision-making process of submitting applications and speaking with administrative channels or agents.

It also conducts physical visits to customers’ places of business, reducing the risk of bad loans.

ProCredit plans to expand its loan book to raise additional capital, the company said in a statement. It is eyeing to enter the banking sector, given the founders’ extensive experience managing lending operations in regulated banks.  This would allow ProCredit to offer “a fuller suite of lending solutions” to its customers, the company added.

Founded in 2023, ProCredit has a founding team consisting of former executives from the likes of Citigroup, Standard Chartered, ANZ, and the Asian Development Bank.

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