Asia's leading financial technology platform, Cyberport company Qupital has raised US$150 million in a combination of Series B equity funding and a receivables-backed securitization facility. The equity funding will reinforce Qupital's ambitions to scale its cross-border e-commerce lending business into international markets and further strengthen its technological capabilities, whilst the facility will provide a lower cost of funding for Qupital to offer exclusive products to its present and future clients.
The securitization facility entered with global investment bank Citi, supported by Integrated Alternative Credit Fund, marks the first e-commerce merchant financing securitization in Asia. This coincides with the closing of Qupital's Series B round, led by the Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund (GBA Homeland), with additional capital injections from investors including the Innovation and Technology Venture Fund (ITVF) of the Hong Kong SAR Government, MindWorks Capital, Silverhorn and Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund.
The majority of funds raised will be used to accelerate Qupital's core lending business to support e-commerce sellers. As part of its five-year plan, the company is set to tap into its abundant network and grow its "buy now, pay later" product model to build an all-encompassing marketplace tailored for B2B transactions. The company also has plans to extend its footprint across mainland China, as well as international markets including Southeast Asia, North America and Europe. It expects to triple the size of its team by 2022 to support expansion needs.
Cyberport incubation programme alumni LeapXpert, a communications and messaging platform provider, also successfully closed its Series A funding round. Altogether, the Company has now raised a total US$14.1 million to date. The investment has been led by LingFeng Capital and Summer Capital, together with four other international investors.
The proceeds from the Series A will be used to expand the LeapXpert team, support the Company’s growth, increase product development and accelerate international expansion.
LeapXpert is growing at a fast pace - serving customers in 45 countries across the globe and have tens of thousands of active users. The funding enables the start-up to continue driving the industry transformation and expand its award-winning solution reach to customers and partners around the world. It will be opening offices in the UK, US, Singapore and Japan.