Funding Societies secures $25m in investment from Cool Japan Fund

By Gloria Mathias

Funding Societies | Modalku (Funding Societies), the unified SME digital finance platform in Southeast Asia, has raised $25 million in equity investment from Cool Japan Fund (CJF), Japan’s sovereign wealth fund.

The investment from CJF signifies the fund’s first investment into a FinTech company in Southeast Asia. Funding Societies will funnel the investment to deepen its core business in SME financing across its five markets while further expanding its payments business, embarking on it in 2022.

For a decade, the company has helped SMEs fulfil their business potential. Now, it will focus on helping businesses get paid faster through innovative receivables and financing solutions. The company will also leverage technology and AI to digitise and automate lending origination processes.

Through this investment, Funding Societies will also partner with CJF to provide financial services to support Japanese companies. The partnership will foster positive commercial relations between Japanese companies and local SMEs in the region. It will also help expand overseas demand for attractive products and services unique to Japanese lifestyle and culture by supporting the overseas business expansion of Japanese companies that provide them.

President and CEO of Cool Japan Fund, Kenichi Kawasaki, said, “We are excited to be backing Funding Societies through this investment. Their track record of supporting SMEs in Southeast Asia places them well to help Japanese companies overcome challenges when entering new overseas markets, particularly in this region. With the shift of interest from Japanese firms steering towards Southeast Asia, we believe our partnership with Funding Societies through this investment will grow the overseas demand for Japanese products and services, in turn benefiting Japan’s economy as well as the local SMEs doing business with Japanese companies.”

Kelvin Teo, co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku, said, “We’re honoured by Cool Japan’s commitment to collaborating with and supporting Japanese companies expanding overseas. Many businesses we serve in Southeast Asia are Japanese firms, suppliers, and/or customers of them. Together with CJF, we intend to strengthen these ties further.”