Validus sees an opportunity to plug a $21 billion SME financing gap in Vietnam and help accelerate financial inclusion among the unbanked and underserved SMEs in the country.
Singapore's largest SME financing platform Validus is expanding into Vietnam, its third market after Singapore and Indonesia, where it established an office earlier this year, the firm announced in a media statement on Wednesday.
Validus Vietnam will work with corporates to provide SME growth financing to their vendors and subcontractors, the statement said, adding that the firm has planned pilot programs with partners including pharmacy group Medicare Vietnam and Unicons, part of leading private construction enterprise Coteccons Group.
Experienced Team
The new office will be led by Validus co-founder Nikhilesh Goel, who has over 14 years of experience in debt and equity financing, portfolio management and value creation for SMEs in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia.
Amrit Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Validus Vietnam
He will be joined by COO Amrit Kapoor (pictured above); and chief business officer Tran Thi Thuy Ha, who brings two decades of business and financing experience to the firm.
Rapid Growth
Validus is backed by the likes of Netherlands development bank FMO and Temasek Holdings’ Vertex Ventures and Vietnam’s leading investment management and real estate development firms, VinaCapital.
According to the firm, it has facilitated over S$300 million ($221 million) in business financing to SMEs in Singapore since its establishment in February 2015.
Earlier this week, finews.asia reported that Validus was in talks with OCBC Bank to form a digital banking consortium, along with Keppel Corporation and Vertex Ventures.
