Funding Societies and MoneyMatch, two local FinTech startups, announced an official strategic partnership to broaden access to alternative financial services for Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Funding Societies, Malaysia’s market leader (P2P) financing platform, will support efforts to build awareness for MoneyMatch, a cross border money transfer platform approved by Bank Negara Malaysia. In turn, Money Match will refer clients in need of business financing to Funding Societies. The arrangement is subject to SME customers’ consent.

The Funding Societies and MoneyMatch partnership aims to provide businesses, particularly SMEs, with a wider range of options when searching for quality business financing and when performing cross border transactions. For example, an SME making a purchase of raw materials or inventory from overseas can utilize joint FinTech solutions from both startups. The SME can obtain working capital financing with no collateral requirements from Funding Societies to fund the purchase, while also executing remittance payments with lower fees and better exchange rates through MoneyMatch. The partnership also supports initiatives from government bodies, such as Securities Commission (SC) and Bank Negara Malaysia, to digitize financial solutions.

Funding Societies connects SMEs with investors through an online marketplace, thereby increasing access to financing for the SME sector. By investing into SMEs, investors could earn returns up to 14% per year, higher than fixed deposits, bonds, and other traditional instruments. Meanwhile, SMEs could obtain up to RM500,000 in working capital financing to expand their business through a fast and simple online-based process. SMEs do not need to provide collateral as part of the financing requirements, while interest costs are minimized due to short financing tenors.

According to estimates cited by the Securities Commission (SC), the Malaysian SME sector has a financing gap of more than RM 80 billion. Market-based financing options like Funding Societies can provide alternative solutions to address the needs of Malaysian SMEs.

Mr. Wong Kah Meng, CEO of Funding Societies Malaysia, stated: “This is a very exciting partnership as it is a first between platforms regulated by Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia. Through the collaboration, we aim to drive greater adoption of value-added FinTech services to more Malaysian businesses, particularly for smaller enterprises which are underserved.”