Our investment in Finfra: Unleashing credit access for digital SMEs
Cento Ventures has recently led the US$2.5 million funding round of Finfra, an Indonesia-based lending-as-a-service infrastructure provider. We are excited to support the company on their mission to scale embedded lending across Indonesia alongside co-investors such as Accion Venture Lab, Z Venture Capital and Matiss Ansviesulis (founder of Avafin). Finfra’s existing investors include Hustle Fund, […]
Unearthing a digital solution: Doxa’s quest to transform business financing
Developing a structured process to extract credit data is crucial for qualifying financing In the heart of Southeast Asia’s bustling business landscape, Edmund Ng embarked on a journey to redefine how companies access crucial financing for growth. When he was a regional technical director at Nufin Data, a Singapore-based fintech trade financing firm, Ng encountered […]
Investing in Sirius Technologies: Empowering scalable enterprise architecture for financial institutions
Since the advent of fintech, the prevailing narrative has consistently pitted traditional banks against fintech startups. Banks are often seen as dinosaurs, grappling to adapt to evolving consumer needs. In contrast, fintech players are regarded as agile market disruptors, and these perceptions are accurate. However, startups are not licensed banks — they cannot lend and […]
Our investment in Doxa: Unlocking new growth within the supply chain finance
The Challenges Most of Southeast Asia’s economy is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for nearly half of the region’s GDP. However, many SMEs are still playing catch-up when it comes to going digital. The construction industry is a prime example, where developing any real estate project is often a multi-year […]
Our investment in FastCo: Serving Southeast Asia’s 280 million non-executive workers
Non-executive workers account for more than 70% of Southeast Asia’s workforce. The recent economic disruptions from pandemic recovery, high inflation and a looming global recession are driving massive changes in the workforce. On the demand side, companies increasingly look for ‘on-demand’ staffing arrangements that offer greater flexibility to handle the peaks and troughs of their […]
iPrice Group raises $5M from Itochu and KDDI Corporation
iPrice Group, Southeast Asia’s leading price comparison platform helping online shoppers save money, announced today that it has raised $5 million of additional funding. The capital was raised from Japan-based firms Itochu Corporation and the KDDI Open Innovation Fund III (operated by Global Brain Corporation). The additional funding will bolster iPrice’s role in finding shoppers […]
E-payment solutions might have more market share than Visa and MasterCard: Q&A with 2C2P founder Aung Kyaw Moe
As more streamlined payment methods emerge in the region, better digital payment services will be developed. — Aung Kyaw Moe, Founder and Group CEO of 2C2P Seventeen years into running Southeast Asian payment processor 2C2P, its founder and group CEO, Aung Kyaw Moe, still holds a passion for everything related to the future of digital […]
BRI Ventures’ VC fund leads Series A round in 500 startups-backed shoe brand
BRI Ventures’ VC vehicle Sembrani Nusantara Fund announced that it has led an undisclosed amount in a series A round in Indonesia’s direct-to-customer shoe brand Brodo. This round is the fund’s second investment after it made its debut investment of US$2 million in a series A round for Indonesia-based drink brand Haus earlier this month. […]
Malaysia’s iPrice Group raises $10m Series B led by ACA Investments
iPrice Group, the Southeast Asian e-commerce aggregator platform, has raised $10 million in its Series B funding round led by ACA Investments, a Daiwa-linked fund management company. The round was also participated by Daiwa PI Partners, LINE Ventures and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund. The Malaysian startup last raised an undisclosed round from Korean internet […]
Pomelo is solving a problem that’s plaguing online shopping
The collapse of fast fashion chain Forever 21, which filed for bankruptcy in the US this September, shook up the retail industry worldwide. Stores have realised that today’s shoppers are of a different breed. Digitally savvy, highly discerning, and socially conscious, the same consumers who led to Forever 21’s demise have fuelled the growth of […]
E-commerce aggregator iPrice scores fresh funding in line-led round
Southeast Asia’s business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce market was worth US$10.9 billion last year and will grow to US$88.1 billion by 2025, according to research from Google and Temasek. An array of online marketplaces and retailers are competing against each other for a piece of that pie, trying to tempt online shoppers with special offers, loyalty perks, […]