Funding Societies, Southeast Asian digital financing platform for small businesses, has secured its third credit facility from HSBC.
This latest agreement brings HSBC’s total commitment to Funding Societies to over US$100 million since their partnership began in 2022.
The funding is part of HSBC’s ASEAN Growth Fund, an initiative aimed at supporting the growth of digital platforms like Funding Societies that serve Southeast Asian e-commerce businesses.
The US$1 billion ASEAN Growth Fund was launched in March 2024 to help Singapore-based digital platforms scale across multiple international markets.
This investment will help Funding Societies expand its reach and provide greater access to credit for underserved small businesses across the region.
HSBC will play a multifaceted role in this partnership, providing comprehensive financial solutions to support Funding Societies’ expansion.
HSBC will act as the structuring bank, lender, account bank, FX counterparty, facility and security agent.
This latest funding follows an investment from Maybank in September this year.
Since its founding in 2015, Funding Societies has disbursed over US$4 billion in business financing to more than 100,000 businesses across Southeast Asia.
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 of US$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.”
Kelvin Teo, Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies, 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.”
Featured image: [From left] Harish Venkatesan, Head of Corporates and Business Banking, HSBC Singapore; Kelvin Teo, Co-founder and Group CEO, Funding Societies
Image credit: Freepik
