Two Europeans bring P2P loans to Singapore’s SMEs

They just raised $1million in Series A funding.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending via crowdfunding for small and medium-sized businesses is already a popular practice in the US, UK and China, but is yet to catch up in Southeast Asia. To take advantage of the burgeoning market in the region, 29-year old Polish Pawel Kuznicki and his French friend Arnauld Bailly, had founded Capital Match in Singapore early this year. It is an online marketplace based in the city-state that facilitates flow of funds from investors to SMEs that are underserved by banks. It claims of ‘disintermediating’ the banking industry by providing SMEs in Singapore with affordable debt/working capital and individual investors with attractive returns, up to 20%+ p.a.

Pawel, an ex-McKinsey consultant and Rocket Internet executive, said that its unique value proposition to businesses and investors in Singapore lies on the fact that borrowers can easily get access to funds and at an affordable rate while retail investors can diversify their portfolio -to SMEs and among many - and earn high yield. “We also run the entire process online and hassle-free to both sides making it a smooth experience for everyone,” he added.

The founders bootstrapped the business for over 6 months before they got seed funding from angel investors. Pawel and Arnauld only used their own savings initially but just recently, they were able to raise $1 million in a series A funding round.

In the future, they plan to automate the process even further and add more financial products to serve wider range of clients' needs. “We have also a number of exciting partnerships in the pipeline to reach out to more businesses and investors,” added Pawel.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Company Name: Capital Match
Founders: Pawel Kuznicki and Arnaud Bailly
Website: https://www.capital-match.com/
Total funding at hand: S$1m
Source of funding: VCs and HNWIs
Major investors: Innosight Ventures, Crystal Horse Investments, CE-Tech
Start of Operation: June 2014

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to Lee Anne Babierra at research@charltonmediamail.com