Qupital closes $15m Series A to support growth in China

March 28, 2019

Hong Kong-based SME trade financing platform Qupital has scored $15m in its Series A round.

The round was led by CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund, with additional funds coming from Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and Mindworks Ventures, both having participated in the startups seed round.

With the new equity, Qupital is hoping to expand its presence in mainland China, scale its development of its technology and risk management teams and bolster its cross-border e-commerce expansion. In addition to this, the company will look to improve its internal credit control systems, e-commerce finance products and other digital capabilities.

To support its growth across China, it is looking to open branches in key cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

By adding CreditEase as a strategic investor, Qupital hopes to benefit from its marketplace lending access and networks to nurture its geographic growth, it said.

Qupital is a supply chain financing platform which helps SMEs to raise capital from investors to release needed working capital. The online platform enables businesses to offer investors the option to purchase invoices, enabling the company to pay their suppliers quicker and investors to earn returns on a new asset class.

CEFIF managing director Dennis Cong said, “The growing volume of SME and cross-border trading drives a huge demand for alternative financing for SME’s who are underserved in the market and opportunities for investors to earn a decent risk-adjusted return.

“We look forward to working with Qupital to broaden its source of capital base and create unparalleled investment opportunities for CreditEase. We will be working with Qupital to further utilize the technologies to enhance risk management, user experience and operational efficiency.”

Last year, CreditEase led the $62m funding round up digital credit supplier Upgrade. The FinTech platform lets consumers take out loans between $1,000 and $50,000, for paying off cards, supporting business developments or improving their homes.