SALMON NETS US$20 MLN FINANCING TO FURTHER SCALE LENDING OPERATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Bernama) -- Consumer fintech, Salmon announced it has secured a US$20 million debt facility from the United States emerging-markets specialist investment firm Argentem Creek Partners, enabling the company to further scale its lending operations across the Philippines. (US$1=RM4.55)

“We are tremendously humbled by the strong investor interest, as well as Argentem Creek’s support for Salmon’s vision to create the best credit-led fintech in Southeast Asia and for making financial services more accessible to all.

“We especially want to highlight Argentem Creek’s focus on building a win-win partnership with Salmon and believe that there will be many options for extending our work together, as Salmon maintains its rapid pace of development in Southeast Asia,” said Salmon Co-founder Raffy Montemayor.

Meanwhile, Argentem Creek Partners Chief Executive Officer and Founder Daniel Chapman said consumer lending is one of the fastest growing segments in Southeast Asia.

“We are convinced that the new generation of credit-focused fintechs like Salmon have a tremendous opportunity and that Argentem Creek could play an important role in driving forward financial inclusion in these exciting markets,” he said.

According to a statement, building on significant investor interest in the debt placement, Salmon will expand its loan book, leveraging existing point-of-sale and cash loan lending, and will launch new disruptive products in the second half of 2023.

The debt transaction, which was completed despite the volatile market environment, sets a new benchmark as the largest ever debt financing for a Series A tech company in the Philippines.

The deal positions Salmon, which was founded less than a year ago in July 2022, as one of the fastest growing fintechs in Southeast Asia. The company was set up by a group of fintech and financial services industry veterans.

-- BERNAMA