Fresh investment from Tiger Global and other prominent investors will propel Fazz into a new season of growth and further accelerate the future of Business Finance in Southeast Asia
SINGAPORE, 14th September 2022 – Previously known as Fazz Financial Group, Fazz today announced a US$100 million Series C funding round. This consists of US$75 million in equity, which includes investment from existing investors such as Tiger Global, DST Investment, B Capital, Insignia Ventures Partners and ACE & Company. Others who participated in the equity round include llham Ltd which is associated with a sovereign wealth fund in the region, EDBI, InterVest, Michael Seibel (Managing Director of Y Combinator) and Hans Tung (Managing Partner of GGV Capital). In addition, Fazz has signed a term sheet with Lendable for a US$25 million debt facility.
The funding from this latest round will be used to build up Fazz, a business account that allows businesses of all sizes – from micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to Fortune 500 companies – to pay, save, and get credit easily in Southeast Asia, acceleratingD the company’s vision to catalyse Southeast Asia’s digital transformation.
This investment builds on Fazz’s recent success, where it saw a record US$10 billion in annualised transaction volumes over the past year. Fazz is looking to double its transaction volumes in the next 12 months, as well as expand their teams in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan from over 800 to 1,400.
Fazz consists of Fazz Agen, an agent-based financial application serving micro and small businesses in Indonesia, that provides easy access to payment, wholesale purchase, and equitable capital; and Fazz Business, a business account that helps growing startups, MSMEs, and large corporations, to build, run, and grow their businesses across Southeast Asia by providing the ability to pay and receive payments, grow capital, and get funding.
Lack of access to equitable technology tools and bank financing are key challenges for MSMEs in Southeast Asia, with the funding gap currently reaching US$300 billion.
“Many businesses in Southeast Asia are still underserved, and some of them have been heavily affected by the pandemic. Fazz is stepping in to help them recover and grow back stronger. Our technology is our key differentiator – we invest a lot in the tech side of our business to ensure that any business from small family shops all the way to big enterprises can access financial tools to build their business. More importantly, we want to provide the same benefits that big companies have to small businesses and warung owners. This round of funding will enable us to build this technology edge for our users,” said Hendra Kwik, Chief Executive Officer of Fazz.
Fazz, originally a merger between Indonesia-founded PayFazz and Singapore-founded Xfers in March 2021, will use the funds to leverage its market experience and technological expertise to provide differentiated financial products to serve the region’s business needs. In addition to Fazz Agen and Fazz Business, Fazz also consists of Modal Rakyat – a Peer-to-Peer lending and borrowing service for MSMEs, and StraitsX – a payments infrastructure for digital assets.
“Fazz provides important financial tools to businesses in Southeast Asia, many of whom lack easy access to digital payments, treasury functions, and growth capital. The Fazz platform has been rapidly adopted by both small businesses and large corporations, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the Fazz team,” said Alex Cook, Partner, Tiger Global.
The changing business environment during the pandemic has placed MSMEs at an even bigger disadvantage due to the lack of access to funding, technology and network. With Fazz, it will now be easy for these businesses to access financial tools that will help them streamline processes, widen their reach, improve their supply chains and most importantly, get the funding they need to grow.
