Kuala Lumpur-based digital supply chain financier CapBay has secured US$20 million in Series A funding from a Singaporean venture capital (VC) firm which will be channeled toward developing its technological and funding capabilities to widen its market outreach to investors and underserved SMEs.
As reported by IFN Fintech last November, CapBay, which is also a licensed peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform, entered a joint venture with financial group Kenanga by way of a 49%-stake acquisition of Kenanga Capital Islamic to establish an Islamic supply chain finance fintech platform. The new platform is expected to hit the market this quarter.
Provided by returning backer KK Fund, the funding round also included several angel investors with expertise in finance, technology and growing start-up companies.
This capital-raising exercise follows a year of milestones: in December 2020, the start-up extended RM100 million (US$24.72 million) in financing across 500 investment notes on its P2P platform since its launch in March 2020, outpacing other Malaysian P2P platforms in hitting the RM100 million threshold. Since its establishment in 2016, the start-up has facilitated over RM800 million (US$197.74 million) across 10,000 transactions covering SMEs. Despite pandemic challenges, CapBay in 2020 continued to expand its strategic partnerships: it was selected to be part of national telecommunications company Telekom Malaysia’s Vendor Financing Program, allowing its P2P investors to invest alongside institutional investors in an asset class backed by the government and corporate receivables.