Amanda Murphy, Head of Commercial Banking, South and Southeast Asia, HSBC
The startup ecosystem does not exist in a silo. By collaborating with various parties, including corporations in the banking sector, startups can tackle some of the most pressing challenges they face today.
According to Amanda Murphy, Head of Commercial Banking, South and Southeast Asia, HSBC, there are a number of challenges that startups face, especially as they are aiming to scale: From how to recruit suitable talents to managing the business side of things.
“They got a great product or a great service. So how do they scale that up? How do they get it available to many people? How do they access markets beyond their home market?” Murphy asks the big questions for founders to consider. “How do they do their banking, and what technology to use?”
These challenges often led to the biggest question of them all: How to secure the funding that can help them reach these goals. Murphy highlights that while many startups might start out by borrowing money from “the bank of Mum and Dad”, they need to expand their connections and tap other resources as they scale –including banks.
“That’s where we’ve been very supportive of startups, both here in Singapore and more broadly across the region. I think that’s where we have a role to play as corporations, by working with small companies who have an idea for a new product and how we can help them get that to market,” she stresses.
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In this interview with e27, Murphy speaks about how the organisation works together with startups, the milestones that they have made, and what they intend to achieve in 2023. The following is an edited excerpt of the interview:
What is your philosophy in working with startups?
Our philosophy in working with startups is to speak their language.
We have a team of people who are specially trained to deal with startups because there are different questions that you are going to ask them. They do not have a 20-year history to share. Sometimes there is also a bit more informality [in communicating with startups] as we are seeing younger people come through the startup companies. So it is about how we match that as well.
Can you explain to me the existing support that is HSBC currently giving to startups?
We got a dedicated fund for Southeast Asia which is half a billion dollars available for startups. Because what we have found is that there are lots of opportunities in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. We got a very strong balance sheet both here and in another country, so we are utilising that for the benefit of startups.
We’ve got a US$200 million tech fund here in Singapore, focused on tech companies that are being established here in Singapore. That is to help those fast-growing companies expand through Singapore and into other parts of Southeast Asia and beyond.
We also got a tech fund in India for US$250 million dollars, and we got a tech fund in Australia as well.
We are just trying to say to those companies in that space that we are open here to support you. We also have companies who are starting up today and want smooth seamless, disruption-free banking. According to the market, we have the best products in that space. Whether it is our trade services products or cash management products, our transaction banking franchise is very, very strong. We process 1.1 million payments every day with 95 per cent of those through digitally.
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From a trade perspective, we are the world’s largest bank by some distance, and we would finance a million dollars worth of trade every minute.
One of the key areas that we have been focusing on for the last number of years is a heavy investment in digital solutions. So we have spent US$2 billion in investment to improve our digital capabilities … that means we can co-create with startups, take our products, and make them work for you in a bespoke manner for each individual company.
The other thing that we have is an international footprint. Bringing startups to other parts of the world, and bringing other parts of the world to startups, is really important. We know Asia very well; we have been here for over 150 years.
What are the criteria for the startups that you are looking for?
There are no standard criteria. We look at each one on an individual basis. What we would like to see is the potential size of the market. Who are the people that are in it? Who are the people behind the project or the initiative? Do they have experience or knowledge expertise in that space? Will they be able to deliver? What is the business plan look like?
This is not a one-size-fits-all.
Is there any particular sector that you are looking at?
We do look at a lot of sectors. But in recent times, we have been quite focused on the new economy, thinking about these businesses that are established in that space and how we can continue to adapt our policies and our products for that.
Some key areas that we are watching are agri-foods, the use of tech in agriculture is a very fast-growing area. Health tech, you can imagine how COVID-19 has accelerated that. We are seeing some really interesting technological advances in there, whether it’s the use of AI to help solve patients’ queries or drug development.
Then the final one–there has been quite an explosion over recent years–is green tech. Everything from electric vehicles, charging points, packaging, virtual communication … all of those types of initiatives. So, we are seeing quite a bit of that and bouncing back to some of the more traditional industries such as transport, travel, and food. We saw them quieten down in certain areas through COVID-19 times, but they are bouncing back, and the recent announcements of China opening up have just added to that as well.
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What are the biggest milestones that you have made with these funds?
It centres on the partnerships that we have established. We partner with a number of tech firms as an organisation. We are ideating, generating new solutions, and thinking about how we evolve. We have used our funds to the benefit of some of the companies here.
If I look at some of the examples that I’m able to share with you, Funding Society … we have lent them US$50 million. They have gotten a credit facility in place, and they’re operating across Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Also, Next Gen Foods. We have helped with some sustainable finance lending for them.
In India, in particular, we have opened bank accounts for over 1,000 new startups. We have also made a partnership with Zoho Books, enabling our customers to access that as well.
So, kind of moving beyond banking, bringing additional value-added services for our clients as well.
What is the big plan for these funds for this year?
The plan is to be very vocal about being open to supporting businesses here in Singapore and beyond. We support businesses through a mixture of funding and lending, but also through other bank products, services, and expertise. Also through the connections with each other.
We’re very bullish on the region; we think there’s a huge amount of opportunity. What we describe as the 3Ds–digitalization, dynamism, and demographics–if you think about Southeast Asia, the digital economy is worth in excess of US$200 billion and it is growing so fast, over 20 per cent every year.
On top of that, you have a very strong growing population, a young population that is growing at a median age is about 30.
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Then you add to that the dynamism, and that is very apparent here in Singapore.
Those three things will really make a difference in this region. So we are very excited about what we can do. In a recent survey that we did of customers or non-customers, over 90 per cent said they expected to grow in this region. So, the business sentiment is very strong.
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Image Credit: HSBC
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