Singapore based Validus, a Fintech startup that helps SME access easy financing options in South East Asia, has raised $20 Mn in its recently concluded Series C round. In a release sent to The Tech Portal, the fintech has successfully raised over US$14 million, with US$20 million in committed capital in its ongoing Series B+ funding round co-led by Vertex Growth Fund (Vertex Growth) and Kuok Group’s Orion Fund managed by K3 Venture Partners.
Founded in 2015 in Singapore, Validus helps connecting large institutional lenders with SMEs in South East Asia. The platform obtained its CMS license from MAS in December 2017. Since then, Validus has expanded into Indonesia and Vietnam, and claims to have successfully topped US$315 million in business funding – a record for P2P lending platforms in Singapore.
“Fintechs with a robust platform and resilient leadership, who are able to survive and thrive in these unprecedented times will be leaders of tomorrow. We are grateful and honoured by the vote of confidence from our Investors,” said Nikhilesh Goel, Co-founder of Validus.
With fresh capital raised, Validus plans to invest in upgrading its technology stack and further solidify its position in the three ASEAN countries it’s present in. The company is also looking to launch in Thailand by the end of this year.
Validus has shown robust growth in terms of both the platform as well as the impact. Based on an economic survey conducted by the company recently, over 300,000 Singaporeans had directly or indirectly benefited from Validus’ SME financing platform. SMEs that obtained financing from the platform experienced a 17 per cent increase in their annual revenue in 2018. GDP contribution from Validus-supported SMEs grew by 18 per cent, while the overall GDP contribution by Singapore’s businesses of 5 per cent in the same year.
SMEs that obtained financing from Validus also experienced robust employment growth of 12 per cent as compared to 1 per cent the overall employment growth of Singapore’s businesses.
