FinTech company Validus gets approved as a PFI by Enterprise Singapore

By Edil Corneille

Southeast Asia’s SME lending platform Validus Capital (Validus) is said to be Singapore’s first FinTech to be approved as a Participating Financial Institution (PFI) under Enterprise Singapore’s Enterprise Financing Scheme. FinTechs have been onboarded under the scheme alongside local financial institutions such as DBS, OCBC Bank, United Overseas Bank, and Hong Leong Finance.

Founded in 2015, Validus has disbursed over S$550 million in SME loans and has helped boost lending.

“As the largest SME financing platform in Singapore, we understand how access to affordable financing can enable SMEs’ exponential growth, and we are capable of assisting those who are cash-strapped to seek funding. Specifically, in a 2019 study, SMEs supported by Validus in Singapore saw a 17% increase in revenue on average, and supported more than 10,000 jobs,” Ajit Raikar, co-founder and executive chairman of Validus noted.

“As the global health crisis continues to inflict hardship on every sector, we’ve witnessed a sustained demand for unsecured loans from viable SMEs not just in Singapore, but across all our markets in the region, looking to prime their business for recovery and growth. We hope that the other countries will also introduce similar government schemes for fintechs and SMEs, where fintechs like Validus can play a crucial role in reaching out to the viable SMEs and offer them growth financing.”

Under the Enterprise Financing Scheme, Validus will provide working capital solutions to SMEs. The government-assisted financing and risk-sharing schemes are part of the Singapore government’s initiatives to help support the needs of local businesses, especially during the pandemic. These schemes offer up to 90% risk-sharing when financing is given to SMEs by the participating financial institutions.

Nikhilesh Goel, co-founder and CEO of Validus shared, “Validus would like to thank Enterprise Singapore for their trust and confidence in us to help support the backbone of the nation – our SMEs. Through these government-assisted schemes, we look forward to playing a much larger role in addressing the financing needs of underserved SMEs and those impacted by the pandemic.”

The company has mentioned that Validus Vietnam and Batumbu (Validus’ Indonesian arm) have shown 500 percent growth in the last four months, with close to zero default rates due to its data analytics and collaborative models. The company mentioned that Siam Validus (Validus’ Thailand arm) is due to launch early next year as a joint venture with one of Thailand’s largest conglomerates who themselves have an SME ecosystem transaction volume of over US$5 billion annually.