Lending

P2P Lender Validus Raises US$20 Million in Series B+ Round Led by Vertex Growth

Validus, a SME financing platform that is also present in Indonesia (Batumbu) and Vietnam (Validus Vietnam), 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.

They join Validus’ stable of investors, including FMO (Netherlands’ public-private development bank), Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Openspace Ventures, Thailand’s AddVentures (Siam Cement Group) and Vietnam’s VinaCapital Ventures who return to fund and support the company in this latest round.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Singapore, Validus brings together accredited individual and institutional lenders and SMEs. It obtained its CMS license from MAS in December 2017. Since then, Validus has expanded into Indonesia and Vietnam, and has successfully topped US$315 million in business funding – a record for P2P lending platforms in Singapore.

With fresh funding, Validus said that it will continue to invest heavily in technology and innovation, and solidify its position in the three ASEAN countries it’s present in. It will also fund the upcoming new venture in Thailand slated for Q4 2020.

Nikhilesh Goel

“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.

“We’d also like to commend the Singapore Government for the extensive SME relief measures designed to help businesses tide over these trying times, as well as the various government agencies who work closely with many financial institutions and platforms including Validus to further support SMEs and help to bolster their frontline responses to the pandemic.”

James Lee

“The industry is crossing an inflection point where demand for SME growth financing and cash flow management is increasing exponentially, and we are confident that the Validus is well-positioned to meaningfully address the SME financing gap as they continue their prudent approach to growth during this period,”

added James Lee, Managing Director, Vertex Growth.

MX Kuok

“We are highly impressed by the leadership and depth of credit management experience at Validus. The team has demonstrated the unique ability to capture critical data points, combined with comprehensive machine learning capabilities, to identify high-potential SMEs that may have fallen through the gaps of the traditional banking model,”

shared MX Kuok of K3 Ventures.