Heaptalk, Jakarta — Singapore’s fintech startup, Seedflex, secured undisclosed funding in a seed round from 500 Global. The funds will be used to launch its proprietary sharia-compliant digital financing solution, Pay-As-You-Sell (PAYS Advance), across Southeast Asia.
The startup observed over 7 million cashless commerce MSMEs in SEA have no access to frictionless digital credit. This amount is expected to double by 2028 as more MSMEs start selling online and moving to cashless payment methods, including for their offline sales.
Seedflex’s PAYS Advance offers a frictionless line of credit for cashless merchants to stay in control of their business, capital, and growth. With a dynamic credit solution that automatically adjusts based on future revenue projections and conveniently pays back the advance as a fractional deduction from future sales, cashless merchants can access up to 10 weeks of sales revenue in advance and repay the credit via their preferred repayment partner.
Co-founder and CEO of Seedflex, Ritwik Ghosh, said, “Despite advances in fintech, the fundamentals of credit underwriting and collection have sadly not changed. Underwriting is primarily based on static and historical data, while collection is rooted in fixed and pre-agreed spiky installments. We aim to change the game and redefine credit for cashless commerce by providing a new, equal, and transparent way for merchants to access financing that can help them scale and grow,”
As is known, Seedflex has initiated rolling out PAYS Advance in Malaysia to help underserved MSME businesses gain access to credit. The company aims to expand the service to a broader group of Malaysian cashless merchants across digital economy partner platforms this year and introduce it to new SEA markets, such as Indonesia and Thailand, by 2025.
While individual e-commerce platforms’ access to data is limited to their ecosystem and partial view of merchants, this fintech was designed to be flexible enough to integrate with multiple e-commerce platforms to serve the complete credit needs of all merchants.
“Seedflex facilitates credit and builds a new generation of financial infrastructure that could facilitate capital flow to create jobs, grow businesses, and fuel economic growth for nations for years to come. I believe that this fintech allows hardworking people and the growing nations they serve to realize their fullest potential,” Managing Partner of 500 Global, Khailee Ng, said.
