Philippine-based consumer finance startup BillEase announced yesterday that it secured an up to $20 million debt facility from Singapore-based fintech firm Helicap Securities to further grow and expand its loan portfolio in the country.
The new debt facility comes about five months after the Philippine-based buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) startup announced raising a $20-million debt facility from London- and Singapore-based emerging market credit provider Lendable.
It also raised $11 million in January in a Series B funding round led by Carsome-backer BurdaPrincipal Investments, the growth capital arm of German media and tech company Huber Burda Media.
In the announcement Monday, BillEase CEO and co-founder Georg Steiger said collateralizing the company’s loan book allows it to access funding to continue serving its fast-growing, underserved customer base.
“We are delighted to have secured a new facility which will further grow and expand our loan portfolio, demonstrating the confidence private investors have in our sustained growth trajectory and profitability,” Steiger added.
The startup, launched in 2017, is an on-demand credit and finance platform that provides different types of financial services, including personal loans, e-wallet top-ups, prepaid load, and gaming credits. It also offers BNPL for customers wanting installment plans for their purchases.
The company said it has disbursed more than 3 million loans so far, with the majority going to female customers and consumers with no previous credit history. In the Philippines, about 70% of the population is unbanked and less than 5% own a credit card.
“The rising acceptance of digital payments is changing the landscape of consumer lending and we are seeing BillEase as one of the few companies that can leverage and scale with the use of its AI-driven credit engine,” said Zhiwei Tan, executive director of Helicap Securities.
Helicap provides private debt investment opportunities for accredited and institutional investors. It aims to fill a $500-billion financing gap that banks are unable to serve and deploy capital to 300 million underbanked through 1,000 originator partners in the region.
BillEase’s Steiger earlier said the country is increasingly attracting interest from investors in the fintech space, seeing the potential impact on the lives of the emerging middle-class population.
“I think we are starting to see the shape of things to come but we are barely scratching the surface. This will be one of the most exciting fintech markets globally over the next five years,” Steiger said in an announcement in April.