AsiaKredit launches pera247 mobile lending app in the Philippines

By Digital News Asia November 2, 2017

Designed to provide the shortest real-time credit decision by any platform on the market
Has raised US$675,000 to date in combined Pre-Series A and seed funding

AsiaKredit launches pera247 mobile lending app in the Philippines

ASIAKREDIT, a digital consumer lender focused on Southeast Asia, on Nov 1 announced the launch of pera247 in the Philippines, a data-driven consumer lending platform delivered through a mobile application.

pera247 is a digital lending solution that aims to provide unsecured small-ticket, short-term consumer loans for up to 90 days to the country’s underbanked population with no existing credit or collateral history.

Founded in 2017, AsiaKredit is led by its co-founder and chief executive officer, Mike Singh, a banker and serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience.

Singh’s financial sector expertise was honed through senior management roles in consumer and retail banking with top banks such as HSBC North America and RCBC Philippines.

Among Singh’s prior entrepreneurial ventures are Emyth Inc, a retailer and manufacturer in the Philippines with over 100 outlets, and an auction web portal sold to one of the Philippines largest media conglomerates.

“We are excited to take consumer lending fully digital in the Philippines as we see a dynamic shift in consumer digital behaviour to access financial services through mobile and online channels. Through pera247, AsiaKredit has a huge opportunity to impact the lives of hundreds of millions unbanked clients in Southeast Asia, leveraging on the high mobile penetration in the region to foster financial inclusion.

We have a diverse, international, experienced, and proven management team, and top-notch backers with solid track records in fintech and consumer finance. We look forward to establish ourselves as a strong player in the digital lending space across the exciting emerging markets of Asia,” says Singh.

Designed to provide the shortest real-time credit decision by any platform on the market, the pera247 platform uses big data to optimise the credit assessment process to make fast and reliable credit decisions.

As part of its credit assessment process, pera247 will extract a selection of data points from both traditional and alternative sources of data, such as behavioural mobile data from an applicant’s smartphone.

Using the AsiaKredit team’s proprietary digital technology and technical know-how, pera247 is able to incorporate highly predictive digital credit assessment into its underwriting algorithm to improve both the availability of credit to those with limited or no banking history as well as increase their approval rate, whilst reducing its cost of risk.

At the end of the credit decision journey, the pera247 app also acts as a mobile wallet for the successful applicant, where funds will be disbursed to and linked to thousands of physical payment centres, within hours of the application.

AsiaKredit has raised US$675,000 (RM2.84 million) to date from combined Pre-Series A and seed funding to date, part of which will be utilised as its funding facility for its customer loans.

After its initial launch, it will seek to bring on board additional capital to expand its loan capital and operational balance sheets.

The fully digital consumer lender is venture-built and funded by Singapore-based investors FORUM, led by serial entrepreneur Greg Krasnov, and Fintonia Group, an early stage fintech investor in Southeast Asia, led by Adrian Chng, the former CEO of JobsDB. Chng leads the company’s board as its non-executive chairman.

Similar to other FORUM- and Fintonia Group-backed ventures, AsiaKredit’s team leverages on its prowess in data analytics, credit-scoring algorithms, and integrated technology solutions from Eastern Europe, where digital finance has reached a level of sophistication.

Beginning with the Philippines, AsiaKredit plans to expand its product offering to other countries across Southeast Asia, with plans to expand into Indonesia in 2018.