Funding Societies acquires payments solution startup CardUp

Funding Societies (Modalku in Indonesia), a digital financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast Asia, has acquired Singapore-based payments solution startup CardUp for an undisclosed amount. 

As per the deal, Funding Societies will acquire CardUp’s payments capabilities, such as card payments to non-card accepting recipients (domestic and cross-border), e-payments acceptance, invoice automation tools, and its licenses and integrations with third-party business software. 

CardUp’s payment services will complement Funding Societies’s lending products. This will enable SMEs to manage and pay expenses, receive payments, and borrow funds within a digital platform.

Funding Societies Co-Founder and Group CEO Kelvin Teo said, “Acquiring CardUp enables us to leapfrog and accelerate our market leadership in the regional fintech space, integrating payments capabilities, enhanced user experience and local licenses to our digital lending experience across key markets.”

Once the acquisition is finalised and approved by the regulators, Funding Societies will add CardUp Founder and CEO Nicki Ramsay to its management team to lead its payments business. All other CardUp employees across Asia will be retained. 

Also Read: Funding Societies enters neobanking space with investment in Indonesia’s Bank Index

CardUp will continue to operate its consumer and business services and maintain its relationships with card networks, issuers, and media partners. 

Launched in 2016, CardUp is a payment solution that helps individuals and businesses make payments to suppliers and collect payments from customers digitally. Businesses use CardUp for payments related to payroll, rent, corporate tax, vendor payments, receivables flows, and cross-border expenses. 

With a presence in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, CardUp has served many companies in the B2B and C2B industries. 

Funding Societies provides digital financing services, where developing MSMEs can apply for up to SGD2 (US$1.5) million in working capital financing funded by institutional and retail investors through a digital market.

In addition to Singapore and Indonesia, Funding Societies also operates in Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The company has facilitated more than SGD3 (US$2.2) billion in working capital through more than five million MSME loan transactions.

Also Read: Samsung backs Funding Societies to drive its vision of financial inclusion for SMEs in SEA

Funding Societies is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Sequoia Capital India, Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, Samsung Ventures, BRI Ventures, Endeavor, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures, amongst others.

In February this year, Funding Societies announced a US$294 million funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

SMEs are expected to push ASEAN’s digital finance market to US$60 billion by 2025. The region’s business payments sector will grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent over the next five years. 

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