Anthem Asia Partners with Acudeen to Provide Financing to Myanmar SMEs using Receivables
Acudeen Technologies has officially signed a partnership with Anthem Asia, an independent investment & advisory group building sustainable businesses in Myanmar.
The collaboration is in lieu of seeing a massive credit gap for SMEs due to the lack of accessible financing options brought about by insufficient credit data. Formal loans in Myanmar are mostly collateral based and the availability of valuable assets like real estate are scarce given that 99% of companies in Myanmar are SMEs, therefore hindering them from gaining access to proper financing channels.
Anthem Asia is a private equity firm specializing in investments in small and medium sized companies. The firm also funds expansion of existing operations or a joint venture, an acquisition or a takeover. It primarily invests in the fields of consumer goods and services, business services, tourism and leisure, food & beverage, manufacturing, distribution, logistics and agri-business. The firm seeks to invest in Myanmar. The firm seeks to invest in firms requiring first phase investments between $0.01 million and about $1.5 million. It may invest in the form of equity or debt, or a combination of the two.
Meanwhile, Acudeen is a startup from the Philippines seeking to bridge the gap between SMEs and financing through their revolutionary platform which enables business owners to liquidate receivables for goods sold and services rendered ahead of their maturity date to financial partners or to accredited individuals. To date, they have facilitated over $6,000,000 worth of invoice transactions since first arriving at the scene in 2016.
“I believe we have gotten really a great partner in Anthem Asia to spread Acudeen’s advocacy of financial inclusion through SME receivables financing. Like Acudeen they are passionate about the immense potential of the reciveables financing business in an emerging market like Myanmar.”, said JJ Atencio, Chairman of Acudeen Technologies.
The partnership comes as the product of Acudeen seeking to extend its services to other markets following its recent track record of success in the Philippines, growing from 3 employees to over 50+ in just under two years, including expansion to regional offices in Myanmar and Singapore.
In attendance from Acudeen were CEO Mario Jordan “Magellan” Fetalino III, CTO Mario Salazar and Chairman Januario Jesus Atencio III. Josephine Prince and Genevieve Heng represented Anthem Asia as its Directors. A letter of intent was signed in December 2017, and the public kick off will commence in August of 2018.
