This Hong Kong fintech employs AI technology to promise collateral-free loans to city’s small businesses
- The company, which got its start in the Hong Kong Science Park, is aiming to fill a US$1.7 trillion global trade-finance gap
- The company uses a proprietary AI-based risk-management tool to assess companies before providing working capital
FundPark, a fintech-focused platform for trade finance, is planning a new round of fundraising from investors as the Hong Kong-based start-up eyes a role in plugging a US$1.7 trillion global financing gap for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
In contrast to lending provided by banks, the company provides SMEs with multiple financing options for working capital, without collateral requirements, CEO and co-founder Anson Suen said. FundPark could finance up to 70 per cent of the purchase order or contract value, he added.
“Through AI technology and data analysis, our own proprietary risk-management tool develops its predictive model,” Suen said. “Based on that, clients can get loans without collateral.”
Suen sees this as the big market, as SMEs represent 96 per cent of all businesses in Asia and provide two out of every three private-sector jobs. More than 40 per cent of SMEs have their requests for trade finance rejected, contributing to a US$1.7 trillion trade-finance gap around the world, according to the Asian Development Bank.
The company has started expanding among cross-border e-commerce merchants in Hong Kong and mainland China. It is planning a new round of funding, after raising about US$250 million in April last year from an asset-backed securitisation facility.
