Fairbanc founder Mir Haque
Fairbanc, an Indonesia-based mobile loan and payments platform, announced today that it has secured a “seven figures USD” in a pre-Series A round of investment.
Investors include ADB Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, East Ventures, and Sampoerna Strategic Group.
This new financial backing comes on the heels of its recent investments from 500 Startups and Indonesian billionaire Michael Sampoerna.
With the fresh money, Fairbanc intends to scale up its credit access for Indonesia’s small retailers and expanding its distributor partners. It is also developing a product recommendation system that can help merchants plan inventory in advance of climate events.
Fairbanc was founded in 2019 with the goal of helping retail shop owners get easy access to credit. It does this by providing them with working capital credit without any loan applications or smartphones and allowing merchants to “pay later” for inventory.
The company’s AI-powered platform can read digital footprints, such as transaction history with large suppliers, and data to grant instant digital credit.
Also Read: Digital payments firm TranServ bags US$15M Series C to launch micro-credit products
Fairbanc also utilises advanced data science and Machine Learning technology to underwrite credit and grow merchant sales while keeping loan defaults and operating costs very low.
According to its founder Mir Haque, “What makes Fairbanc so unique compared to other fintech platforms is that it plugs into large consumer brands like Unilever’s vast merchant networks to offer ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ credit to tens of thousands of retailers without requiring any loan applications or smartphones.”
Since its inception, the startup has partnered with major FMCG firms, including Unilever, L’Oréal, and Danone, and claims to have a network of 60,000 merchants.
“The pandemic is far from over in Indonesia, and micro-merchants are uniquely vulnerable to its economic impact. Fairbanc is filling a critical gap in access to credit for these entrepreneurs, helping them keep their shops open and sustain their livelihoods,” said Michael Schlein, President of Accion.
“The company’s inventory financing and experienced leadership sets it apart in a crowded fintech market and makes Fairbanc an important ally on our mission to accelerate financial inclusion and support climate resilience in the Asia Pacific region,” added Daniel Hersson, Senior Fund Manager at ADB Ventures.
According to the World Bank Indonesia’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have a US$166 billion unmet need for credit, making getting easy access to finance a key issue in the region.
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Image Credit: Fairbanc
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