Validus Vietnam raises more capital, opens the door to unsecured loans for small businesses

The gap in access to loans for SMEs in Vietnam is up to 24 billion USD, becoming a potential market for fintechs in the Southeast Asian region.

Validus Vietnam, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Validus Capital Pte. Ltd., has successfully raised new funding from Reazon Holdings, a Tokyo-based company.

Reazon Holdings was founded in 2019, operating in multiple industries such as advertising technology, gaming, media, food technology and investment activities.

Reazon Holdings currently owns 7 member companies and 2 branches operating in Singapore and Malaysia and has been gradually expanding into multiple industries recently through investment activities.

According to a representative from Reazon, Reazon Holdings decided to invest in Validus Vietnam based on its high appreciation of the potential of the SME financial market in Vietnam as well as the development potential of Validus Vietnam in the future.

Mr. Dinh Van Binh, CEO of Validus Vietnam, the new capital will be invested in product development, technology, and data. In particular, Reazon will support Validus Vietnam in establishing commercial partnerships through their network to support growth and contribute to the mission of improving financial inclusion for SMEs in Vietnam.

Mr. Vishal Shah, Group COO of Validus also affirmed that this investment is a testament to the commitment of the group and investors to the growth strategy in the Vietnamese market.

More than 80% of small and medium enterprises in Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular face major barriers in accessing financial solutions from traditional financial institutions due to strict collateral requirements and complex screening processes…

Validus develops AI-powered credit scoring algorithms that leverage alternative data and predictive models to automate the credit risk assessment process for small business loans. SMEs only need to submit simple online applications to receive funding.

According to Mr. Binh, in the context of the world and domestic macro economy having many fluctuations, the door to unsecured loans for small businesses is increasingly narrowing, while the gap in accessing loans for SMEs in Vietnam is up to 24 billion USD. Validus' strength is building cooperative relationships with famous and best investors in the region as well as cooperating with many partner businesses.

Since its initial launch in Singapore to June 2023, Validus has facilitated over S$4 billion in disbursements across over 80,000 SME loans across Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Validus was founded in 2015 and is a leading fintech company in Southeast Asia, backed by Vertex Fund, owned by the Government of Singapore. In November 2019, Validus officially entered Vietnam. Validus' strategic shareholders in Vietnam include TTC Group, Do Ventures Fund and VinaCapital Ventures.

In December 2023, Validus Group also successfully raised $20 million in capital from fintech (a large investment fund based in Hong Kong (founded by a former executive member of Ant Financial Group) to continue to supplement growth and complete platform construction.

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