AsiaKredit Takes Consumer Lending Fully Digital with Launch of Revolutionary pera247 Mobile Lending App in the Philippines
November 1, 2024
By: Payment Week
MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES, November 1, 2024 – AsiaKredit, a digital consumer lender focused on Southeast Asia, today announced the launch of pera247 (www.pera247.ph) in the Philippines, an innovative, data-driven consumer lending platform delivered through a mobile application. pera247 is a digital lending solution that aims to provide unsecured small-ticket, short-term consumer loans for up to 90 days to the country’s underbanked population with no existing credit or collateral history.
Designed to provide the shortest real-time credit decision by any platform on the market, the pera247 platform uses big data to optimize the credit assessment process to make fast and reliable credit decisions. As part of its credit assessment process, pera247 will extract a selection of data points from both traditional and alternative sources of data, such as behavioral mobile data from an applicant’s smartphone. Using the AsiaKredit team’s proprietary digital technology and technical know-how, pera247 is able to incorporate highly predictive digital credit assessment into its underwriting algorithm to improve both the availability of credit to those with limited or no banking history as well as increase their approval rate, whilst reducing its cost of risk.
At the end of the credit decision journey, the pera247 app also acts as a mobile wallet for the successful applicant, where funds will be disbursed to and linked to thousands of physical payment centers, within hours of the application.
AsiaKredit has raised USD675,000 to date from combined Pre-Series A and seed funding to date, part of which will be utilized as its funding facility for its customer loans. After its initial launch, it will seek to bring on board additional capital to expand its loan capital and operational balance sheets.
The fully digital consumer lender is venture-built and funded by Singapore-based investors FORUM, the largest fintech venture builder in Emerging Asia led by serial entrepreneur Mr Greg Krasnov, and Fintonia Group, the leading early stage fintech investor in Southeast Asia, led by Mr Adrian Chng, the former CEO of JobsDB. Mr Chng leads the Company’s board as its Non-Executive Chairman.
Founded in 2017, AsiaKredit is led by its Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mike Singh, a seasoned banker and serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. Mike’s financial sector expertise was honed through senior management roles in consumer and retail banking with top banks such as HSBC North America and RCBC Philippines. Among Mike’s prior entrepreneurial ventures are Emyth Inc., a leading retailer and manufacturer in the Philippines with over 100 outlets, and an auction web portal sold to one of the Philippines largest media conglomerates.
AsiaKredit’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mike Singh, commented: “We are excited to take consumer lending fully digital in the Philippines as we see a dynamic shift in consumer digital behavior to access financial services through mobile and online channels. Through pera247, AsiaKredit has a huge opportunity to impact the lives of hundreds of millions unbanked clients in Southeast Asia, leveraging the high mobile penetration in the region to foster financial inclusion. We have a diverse, international, experienced, and proven management team, and top-notch backers with solid track records in fintech and consumer finance. We look forward to establish ourselves as a strong player in the digital lending space across the exciting emerging markets of Asia.”
AsiaKredit’s team in Manila includes digital marketing and operations experts with world-class experience from the likes of Lazada, Hinduja Global Solutions, and Thompson Reuters. Similar to other FORUM- and Fintonia Group-backed ventures, AsiaKredit’s team leverages its prowess in data analytics, credit-scoring algorithms, and integrated technology solutions from Eastern Europe, where digital finance has reached a level of sophistication. Beginning with the Philippines, AsiaKredit plans to expand its product offering to other countries across Southeast Asia, with plans to expand into Indonesia in 2018.
AsiaKredit is a fully digital consumer lender focused on Southeast Asia, providing an innovative, data-driven consumer lending platform delivered through its mobile application, pera247. It seeks to impact the lives of the underserved population in the region through fostering financial inclusion, and advancing economic opportunities to them. AsiaKredit’s diverse, experienced, and proven management team is the market-leading advocate for responsible lending, including strictly adhering to the industry’s code of ethics. Headquartered in Singapore, AsiaKredit currently operates in the Philippines, with plans to enter other Southeast Asian markets. AsiaKredit was seeded and developed by FORUM, the largest fintech venture builder in Emerging Asia, and Fintonia Group, the leading early-stage fintech investor in Southeast Asia.
About FORUM
FORUM is the largest fintech venture builder in Emerging Asia, focused on the $500 bln growth opportunity in the Consumer Lending vertical. We identify unique market segments for rapid value creation and build market-leading companies for capital gain. We are currently developing four companies across Asia: CredoLab, AsiaCollect, SolarHome and AsiaKredit. FORUM is headquartered in Singapore.
About Fintonia Group
Fintonia Group is a regional venture capital and alternative assets fund management firm with an investment focus on financial technology, particularly enterprises that advance financial inclusion for underserved consumers and businesses in emerging markets across Asia. With a strong portfolio of financial technology and data analytics companies, Fintonia is a regional leader in inclusive finance venture building. Its portfolio includes digital credit risk assessment firm CredoLab, anti-money laundering software compliance company Silent Eight, personal data consent platform Trunomi, digital credit management services company Asia Collect and cloud based retail management solution business StoreHub.
