KUALA LUMPUR, 26 APRIL 2022 – Funding Societies (also known as Modalku in Indonesia), the leading SME digital financing platform in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, announced a co-investment into Bank Index or PT. Bank Index Selindo stocks, Indonesia’s private commercial bank, alongside CARRO, a Southeast Asian automotive marketplace platform. The move serves as a significant milestone in Funding Societies’ entry into the neobanking space and its offer of more high-impact digital financial services to underserved businesses in the region.

With a focus on SME Banking, Bank Index is a privately-owned national Bank with a strong nation-wide footprint of 53 offices networks in major commercial areas across Jabodetabek, Java, Sumatra, Bali and Batam. Bank Index also conducts business across a range of commercial supply chains while offering mobile and internet banking services to its clients.

Co-Founder & Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku, Kelvin Teo, said, “Our investment and partnership with Bank Index will support Funding Societies’ business strategy into neobanking. Bank Index shares the vision of empowering and developing SMEs. Since 2015, Funding Societies has been actively partnering with banks across the region, and our partnership with Bank Index will take FinTech-bank collaboration to the next level. Our complementary capabilities will enable us to serve SMEs better across banking, payments, lending and digital services to uplift Southeast Asia’s economies through small businesses.”

Funding Societies’ investment into Bank Index is one of its key steps to further progress the FinTech industry. The Indonesia FinTech Association (AFTECH) Annual Members Survey held in 2021 revealed that the neobank cluster has the potential to rapidly grow in the future, especially for the unbanked population, with an estimated growth of 51% in Indonesia. This is further backed by Ernst & Young’s 2021 NextWave Global Consumer Banking Survey, which highlighted the highest rates of neobanking activities’ adoption amongst consumers in two regional markets, one of which being the Asia Pacific market.

Gimin Sumalim, President Director of Bank Index, added, “We are delighted to welcome Funding Societies and CARRO as shareholders of Bank Index. Together, we will partner to forge strategic initiatives based on our shared vision and mission, primarily to greatly expand our services to our target market. This collective step is also a reference point to continue pursuing comprehensive digital transformation.”

Funding Societies provides digital financing services, where MSMEs can apply for business financing funded by institutional and retail investors through a digital market. In addition to Malaysia and Indonesia, Funding Societies also operates in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. To-date, the platform has collectively disbursed more than RM9.5 billion in financing through more than 5 million financing deals across the region.