Funding Societies secures third credit facility with HSBC to extend access to MSMEs in Southeast Asia

Part of HSBC's ASEAN Growth Fund, an accumulative commitment of overUS$100 millionto Funding Societies since its partnership established in 2022

SINGAPORE,Nov. 5, 2024/PRNewswire/ -- Funding Societies | Modalku (Funding Societies), the largest unified digital finance platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) inSoutheast Asiatoday announced signing the third credit facility* with HSBC under its ASEAN Growth Fund. The overall transaction, an accumulative commitment of overUS$100 million, also includes the two annual credit facilities extended to Funding Societies, reaffirms HSBC's continued support for MSMEs through the platform since 2022.

This transaction, which is amongst HSBC's largest asset-backed secured facilities extended to digital SME lenders inSoutheast Asia, will further deepen and extend Funding Societies'reach to providing credit access to underserved MSME segments in the region.

While theAsia-Pacific(APAC) region has grown its middle-class and gained tremendous traction in terms of increasing access to formal banking services and digitalising its commercial environment, the region still has aUS$2.5 trillioncredit access gap, making up over half of the global shortfall in small business financing^[1]. To put into perspective, up to 99.9% of enterprises are MSMEs contributing to 35% to 69% of each country's gross domestic product (GDP)^[2].

Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies,Kelvin Teo, said,"The continued support from a global bank such as HSBC is a testament to its commitment to support the development of digital platform businesses such as ours and MSMEs as we ride through a two-decade high interest rates impacting the global economy. This enables us to further explore scalable debt financing for growth and profitability, and bolster financial inclusion for the underbanked and underserved SMEs in the region."

As part of its ASEAN Growth Fund strategy, this transaction underlines a scalable solution to allow and enable digital lenders like Funding Societies to raise additional equity capital and debt financing through different channels. Furthermore, HSBC will act as the structuring bank, lender, account bank, FX counterparty, facility and security agent in providing a scalable and pan-regional financing solution to support Funding Societies'business expansion in the region.

Harish Venkatesan, Head of Corporates and Business Banking, HSBC Singapore, said,"As an early-starter and a leading MSME digital financing player in ASEAN, we are pleased to provide our third credit facility for Funding Societies, cumulatively in excess ofUS$100 million. This will enable us to continue supporting its efforts to provide financing support to micro, small and medium enterprises which will contribute to the building blocks of societies in the ASEAN region. We look forward to continuing support for Funding Societies as they grow their business and for the underlying MSMEs in the region through the HSBC ASEAN Growth Fund."

TheUS$1 billionHSBC ASEAN Growth Fund was launched inMarch 2024to enableSingapore-based digital platform businesses supporting e-commerce in the region to achieve economies of scale across multiple international markets, grow their asset portfolios, and advance along the corporate lifecycle. Together with the New Economy and Venture Debt Fund, HSBC Singapore offers a comprehensive suite of financing solutions for new economy businesses across different stages of growth^[3].

This announcement comes at the heels of Funding Societies'most recent strategic investments from Maybankin September.

Since its inception in 2015, Funding Societies has disbursed overUS$4 billionin business financing, positively impacting more than 100,000 businesses acrossSingapore,Indonesia,Malaysia,Thailand, andVietnam, as well as processed an annualisedUS$1.4 billionin payments GTV (gross transaction value) since its entry into payments in late 2022.

About Funding Societies | Modalku

Funding Societies | Modalku is the largest unified SME digital finance platform inSoutheast Asia. It is licensed inSingapore,Indonesia,Thailand, registered inMalaysia, and operates inVietnam. The FinTech company providesUS$1 billionannually of business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In recent years, it has made strategic milestones including its acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp and co-investment into Bank Index inIndonesia.

Funding Societies | Modalku is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Maybank, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, CGC Digital (the digital arm of the Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad), SBVA (previously SoftBank Ventures Asia), Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia Capital India), Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, BRI Ventures, VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Endeavor, EBDI, SGInnovative, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures among others.

It has received accolades through the years including: Brands for Good (2019, 2023), Global SME Excellence Award, Global SME Finance Awards by IFC (2021-2023) Global Startup Awards (2020), MAS FinTech Award (2016, 2021),Singapore'sFastest-Growing Companies 2024 (a list of 100 companies compiled by The Straits Times and Statista), High-Growth Companies inAsia-Pacific2024 (a list of 500 companies compiled by the Financial Times and Statista) .

For more information, please visit:www.fundingsocieties.com

About The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited is the founding member of the HSBC Group. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 60 countries and territories. With assets ofUS$2,975bnas of30 June 2024, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.

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