Pilon Co-Founders Eddie Lee (L) and Alex Chua
Pilon, a Singaporean fintech firm providing a cloud-based supply chain financing system in Southeast Asia, has secured US$5.2 million (both debt and equity) in a seed funding round.
Led by Wavemaker Partners, the round also saw participation from Singapore’s family office Octava and investment firm Polaris Kin.
Pilon will use the funds to improve its digital product offerings and expand its footprint in markets like the Philippines and Cambodia. It also plans to foray into either Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia within the next year.
The company will also scale up business acquisition and talent in areas like marketing and technology.
Founded in 2020 by Eddie Lee and Alex Chua in collaboration with the non-bank financial institute Goldbell Financial Services, Pilon enables small and medium-sized enterprise suppliers and their corporate buyers to digitise their factoring processes. In addition, it enables them to unlock cash flow by accessing credit from financial institutions via web and mobile interfaces using a cloud-based engine.
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With Pilon, suppliers can access and track their owed invoices and choose one or multiple invoices for early financing via their mobile app. They can choose the date they want the funds in their bank account, enabled by the built-in spot factoring and dynamic discounting, which will present the discounted offer to the supplier for consideration before accepting it.
Buyers are allowed up to 120 days of payment terms, while supplier invoices can be paid or financed on demand.
Pilon aims to onboard another 1,000 suppliers and collaborate with five regional banks or financial institutions.
“With the fresh funds raised, we will be able to unlock the next phase of Pilon’s growth and resolve complex challenges,” said Eddie Lee, Co-Founder and CEO.
Paul Santos, Managing Partner at Wavemaker Partners, added: “SME suppliers in emerging markets often face cash flow challenges due to the rigidity of the payment processes of their buyers. With Pilon, SMEs that were traditionally excluded from the formal financial sector can now access much-needed financing to help them grow.”
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