Fintech Startup “Helicap” Reaches Over 155 Billion Rupiah Funding from Saison Capital

Singaporean fintech startup Helicap announced a fresh $10 million (over Rp155 billion) Series A funding led by Saison Capital, a venture that is a consumer finance subsidiary of Japan's Credit Saison. This funding is in the form of equity issuance and placement of Asset Under Management (AUM) funds in the form of: Redeemable Preference Shares.

Participated previous investors, East Ventures, new investor Access Capital, asset manager multi-family Lamivoie, and high net worth individuals (HNWI/ High Net Worth Individuals) others.

In total, Helicap has raised nearly $18 million in funding. The latest funding will be used to spur business expansion, improve credit scoring technology, and expand personal debt securities investment products.private debts) to overcome market turmoil due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Helicap Co-Founder and CEO David Z. Wang explained that the Series A round was motivated by the company's performance that exceeded expectations over the past year, including obtaining a Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) business license from the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) for children. Helicap investment management.

Then through the acquisition of securities company Arcor Capital, the company now has a capital market business license (Capital Markets Services) for buying and selling services for capital market products. Arcor Capital acquired last year with an unspecified value.

"We are very proud of Credit Saison's participation in the line of top investors and we will soon announce a number of strategic initiatives with Saison Capital next month," Wang said in an official statement, Tuesday (28/4).

Not yet registered with OJK

When it gets funding in 2018, Helicap plans to do expansion to Indonesia. In 2020, although Helicap has obtained various permits in Singapore, the company has not yet obtained a permit from the OJK or registered as a member of the association.

This should be the focus of the next Helicap. The company announced the appointment of Ilham Akbar Habibie as Special Advisor. Ilham is the President Commissioner of Bank Muamalat and Co-Founder of Ilthabi Rekatama, a private investment company. His presence is expected to help Helicap sharpen its business in Indonesia, as one of the company's main markets.

“I am excited to work with and advise fintech companies like Helicap. [..] Data-driven companies like Helicap will play an important role in the alternative lending market,” Ilham explained.

Helicap calls itself a platform Capital as a Service with B2B2C coverage. They do not provide loans directly, but channel loans from organizations that have become partners by providing guarantees from the data analysis carried out.

The company accommodates access to credit data collected by various financial organizations. The data is processed in such a way as to provide insight to provide investment allocation. This insight is assessed as “helicopterview” or a thorough understanding of the business to be invested in.

Helicap focuses on credit analytics technology and ponten principles (scoring models) that closely monitors millions of lending data points from various publisher platforms, enabling Helicap subsidiaries to provide customized returns (risk-adjusted returns) to investors.

“Southeast Asia is the most growing economic region, driven by SMEs. However, this growth has also resulted in a fragmented loan ecosystem, unable to serve capital loans for the business as a whole,” concluded Wang.

The company is based in Singapore with regional coverage spread across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Australia.