SME lending platform Validus banks over $14m in ongoing series B+ round

Validus, a Singapore-based financing platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, today announced that it has raised over US$14 million in its ongoing series B+ funding round. It has secured a total of US$20 million in committed capital for the round.

Vertex Growth Fund and Kuok Group’s Orion Fund, which is managed by K3 Venture Partners, co-led the latest fundraising.

Photo credit: Validus

Existing investors such as Dutch bank FMO, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Openspace Ventures, Vietnam’s VinaCapital Ventures, and AddVentures, the VC arm of Thai conglomerate Siam Cement Group, also participated in the round.

With the new funding, the company will continue to invest in technology and innovation to solidify its position in the three countries it’s present in. It will also fund an upcoming venture in Thailand that’s slated for the fourth quarter of this year, according to a statement.

Founded in 2015, Validus brings together high-net-worth individuals and institutional lenders to provide financing to SMEs. It uses data analytics, AI, and machine learning to assess credit risk.

The company launched its operations in Indonesia with Batumbu and in Vietnam with Validus Vietnam after it had secured US$15.2 million in series B funding led by FMO last year.

Since its inception, Validus said it has facilitated over S$450 million (US$319 million) in loans. It has also topped US$315 million in business funding since it obtained a capital markets services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in late 2017.

Validus claims over 300,000 Singaporeans have benefited from using its platform, with SMEs seeing a 17% increase in annual revenue in 2018 and a 12% growth in employment.

Currency converted from Singapore dollar to US dollar: US$1 = S$1.41.