Singaporean P2P lending startup Funding Societies launches in Thailand

Funding Societies announced its launch in Thailand today, marking the peer-to-peer lending platform’s fourth market entry in its six years of operation.

The expansion comes after over a year of working with local regulators and planning, the Singapore-based startup said in a statement. It would operate under the debt-crowdfunding license given by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission.

Co-founders Kelvin Teo (left), who also serves as group CEO, and Reynold Wijaya / Photo credit: Funding Societies

Also known as Modalku in Indonesia, Funding Societies provides business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises crowdfunded by individual and institutional investors.

“Having built a market-leading presence in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, we’re excited to bring our vision to Thailand and launch today,” said Funding Societies co-founder and group CEO Kelvin Teo. “We’ll also be able to better support Singapore companies expanding into Thailand and vice versa.”

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SMEs power the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia. According to data from the Asian Development Bank Institute, small businesses account for 99.8% of companies and generate 14 million jobs in Thailand, generating US$215 billion in gross domestic product.

However, there’s a funding gap worth over US$40 billion for SMEs in Thailand, according to the International Finance Corporation.

“By leveraging technology, Funding Societies offers SMEs a new avenue of accessing business financing that is fast, affordable, and convenient,” said Varun Bhandari, who heads the lender’s Thailand unit. According to the statement, the country’s retail investors can expect investment opportunities with interest rates of 8% to 13% per annum.