Another P2P lender goes south: millions on the line for Capital Match’s investors

In 2016, many investors in Singapore were piling their funds into peer-to-peer lending schemes at a time when China was clamping down on them hard.

One particular P2P firm in Singapore was growing fast. Running on VC fuel, Capital Match would go on to finance more than S$150 million (US$111 million) to SMEs in Singapore and Hong Kong by 2019.

But that growth may have come at the expense of its investors.

No, this isn’t a story about clueless investors getting their fingers burnt.

Two investors, who each put “six figures” in US dollars into Capital Match between 2016 and 2019, are outraged by the allegedly inaccurate or false information provided to them, which they say misled them into investing.

They aren’t just aggrieved because of their potential losses, which they accept is part and parcel of investing. Instead, they say that years of poor notification processes, irresponsible lending, and a lack of prompt recovery efforts on Capital Match’s part have compounded into a costly mistake for the platform’s many investors.

Both investors spoke to Tech in Asia on condition of anonymity.

On personal finance site Seedly, Capital Match has a 2.3 rating out of 5, with an investor cautioning others to “avoid this platform” in one review. Other platforms like Bridge and Funding Societies had ratings of 4.5 and 4.1, respectively, ranked on metrics like portfolio transparency, customer support, and user experience.

Capital Match’s business, meanwhile, appears to have significantly declined from its heyday, its filings show.

In an emailed statement to Tech in Asia, the company said it “strongly disagrees with any allegation of false or misleading information having been provided to investors on the platform.” It was unable to comment on its position on specific allegations, which are the subjects of ongoing court proceedings.

P2P lending platforms are no strangers to controversy. In 2020, hundreds of investors on Singapore-based CoAssets saw their holdings evaporate as the firm shut down amid a growing mountain of troubled debt.

See also: Millions lost, police reports filed: Behind the plight of CoAssets’ hapless investors

That said, some like Funding Societies and Validus are going from strength to strength. Last week, Funding Societies raised US$294 million in funding from investors including Softbank Vision Fund 2 and VNG Group. Validus, in the meantime, is charting an expansion into Vietnam through a joint venture launched in January.

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