Indonesian employee benefits and fintech solutions provider Venteny has established a subsidiary in Tokyo. Separately, Vietnamese financial services company F88 has raised $50 million in a Series C funding round.
Venteny eyes low-cost funding in Japan
Indogen Capital-backed Indonesian employee benefits and fintech provider Venteny has established a subsidiary called Venteny GK in Tokyo, Japan.
The subsidiary will allow Venteny to secure low-cost funding in Japan and also enhance its partnerships with some financial institutions in the country. In 2017, the firm had raised $2.3 million in its Series A round led by Japan-based venture capital fund SBI Investment.
“The low-cost funding can help Venteny access more SMEs in Southeast Asia,” founder and Group CEO of Venteny Jun Waide said in a statement on Thursday.
Last year, Venteny listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) raising 338.32 billion rupiah ($21.68 million). It put 42% of the IPO proceeds into its subsidiary Venteny Matahari Indonesia, a peer-to-peer lending company. The rest was used for technology and organisational development.
The company was incorporated in Singapore in Aug 2016 as Venteny Pte Ltd. It has since managed all operations from the Philippines as a pilot market before expanding to other countries in Southeast Asia. Venteny has over 200,000 users in the Philippines and 250,000 users in Indonesia.
VOI, Mekong lead F88 funding round
Vietnamese financial service company F88 has raised $50 million in Series C funding round led by Vietnam-Oman Investment Fund (VOI) and Mekong Enterprise Fund IV (MEF IV), according to a release.
DealStreetAsia had reported the fundraising last week. The firm plans to use the new capital to invest in technology, data analytics and data science, brand building and acquiring new customers, and developing human resources as well as attracting new talent.
VOI was established in 2008 as part of the Joint Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the two countries. The investment vehicle is backed by the Oman Investment Authority and State Capital Investment Corporation of Vietnam.
“The capital contribution to F88 is our first investment in the financial services sector in Vietnam. This
demonstrates our confidence in the company’s business model and growth potential as well as the social benefits that F88 can bring,” said Nguyen Xuan Giao, Investment Director at the Vietnam-Oman Investment Fund.
F88 raised a loan of $60 million from Lending Ark Asia Secured Private Debt Funds, the private debt arm of Hong Kong-based alternative investment firm CLSA Capital Partners; and Lendable in November last year. The company said it is targeting an IPO next year when its market capitalisation is expected to reach $1 billion.
Launched in 2013 as a pawnshop chain in Vietnam, F88 is now a financial services firm catering to the unbanked and under-banked population and micro businesses in the country.