Jenfi co-founders Jeffrey Liu and Justin Louie
Jenfi, a Singapore-based alternative revenue-based financing company for digital-native businesses and startups in Southeast Asia, has raised US$6.3 million in a Series A funding round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
Korea Investment Partners, Golden Equator Capital, 8VC, ICU Ventures, and Taurus Venture joined the round.
As per a press statement, the startup will use the fresh capital for product development, customer acquisition, and market expansion in Southeast Asia.
Previously, the Y Combinator graduate bagged US$25 million in a debt round led by San Francisco-based early-stage credit fund Arc Labs, with the participation of Gluwa, the co-creators of CreditCoin. It also counts Atlas Ventures, Next Billion Ventures, Stormbreaker Ventures, VentureSouq Capital, and Iterative among its existing investors.
Jenfi was started by Jeffrey Liu and Justin Louie, co-founders of fitness subscription company GuavaPass which was acquired by ClassPass in 2019. The startup provides flexible funding options for companies looking to scale their businesses through increased marketing, inventory, and growth campaigns.
Also Read: How revenue-based financing will help unbanked and underbanked businesses flourish
Unlike traditional lenders that focus on a company’s financial statements, Jenfi monitors and underwrites businesses through a qualification process with alternative data sources. These sources include the likes of accounting software (e.g. Xero, Quickbooks), payment gateways (e.g. Stripe, Braintree), merchant platforms (e.g. Shopify, Shopee, Lazada), and digital advertising (Facebook and Google Ads).
Indicators such as the creditworthiness of a business, the efficiency of growth spending, the health of the companies, real-time data on revenue growth, and marketing ROI are all considered.
Business owners and entrepreneurs can avail up to US$500,000 of non-dilutive growth capital in return for a small percentage of future revenue instead of a fixed repayment schedule.
The company claims that it has backed over 100 businesses, including B2B and SaaS businesses such as Tier One Entertainment, Pay With Split, and Homebase.
The company boasts that its average customer achieves a significant amount of compounded sales growth, ranging from above 26.5 per cent over three months to more than 156 per cent over 12 months.
By July 2022, Jenfi plans to deploy US$15 million in non-dilutive capital.
“Online merchants and digital-enabled businesses are burgeoning, and these same businesses are taking advantage of the exponential growth of e-commerce and digital marketing. It’s time for lenders to evolve,” said CEO Liu. “We built Jenfi with the vision to help these businesses grow and to partner with owners for the long-term without them giving up any equity.”
Susli Lie, venture partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, said in a statement that Jenfi is blazing a path for how digital-first companies do the financing.
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Image Credit: Jenfi
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