SCB Abacus, a Thailand-based alternative digital lending platform, today announced that it has raised US$12 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round. Led by Openspace Ventures, this funding round also included the participation of Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and CAI Partners.
In a press statement, the company stated that it will use the funding to accelerate product development and expansion, strengthen its technology infrastructure and underwriting capabilities, and recruit additional talent.
The company also stated that it expects to raise a Series B funding round by the end of 2022 with “a fivefold growth of its current loan portfolio compared to 2021.”
SCB Abacus is a fintech spin-off in the local banking industry which enables the company to combine “the resources of a leading national bank with the expertise and scale-up experience of international venture capitals.”
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The company’s flagship product MoneyThunder is a digital unsecured lending application that serves the underbanked population in Thailand. The platform utilises SCB Abacus’ in-house artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to underwrite loans and provide a completely automated approval experience for consumers.
It also enables fast registration and application process in just five to 20 minutes.
“The company’s current mission is to create better access to finance through inclusive digital lending platforms. Today, at least 60 per cent of our borrowers were previously denied bank loans. With the use of our in-house machine learning credit models and AI technology, we can assess borrowers using alternative information and provide a fast and seamless loan process. We envision wider usage of our data infrastructures in other non-financial sectors as well,” said Dr Sutapa Amornvivat, founder and CEO of SCB Abacus.
As of August, MoneyThunder said that it has seen close to five million application downloads with loans disbursed surging, increasing by a multiple of 10 in 2021 versus 2020.
Lead investor Openspace Ventures has closed its third Southeast Asian fund at US$200 million in March. It has recently invested in Kumu, a Philippine-based livestreaming platform.
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Image Credit: SCB Abacus
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