Consumer credit firm Kredivo raises $270 mln in Mizuho Bank-led round

Kredivo Holdings, a Southeast Asian major digital consumer credit platform with operations in Vietnam and Indonesia, has raised $270 million in a series D round led by Japan’s Mizuho Bank, which contributed $125 million.

The round also drew in Kredivo’s existing investors like Square Peg Capital, Jungle Ventures, Naver Financial Corporation, GMO Venture Partners, and Openspace Ventures.

With the new funding, the digital platform aims to accelerate its fintech offerings, which include personal loans, physical and virtual credit cards, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) services. It also plans to fuel the upcoming launch of its neobank Krom.

Kredivo is operated by FinAccel, a Singapore-headquartered fintech company backed by leading investors like Mirae Asset, Naver, Square Peg Capital, MDI Ventures, and Jungle Ventures, among others.

Mizuho Bank announced its $125 million contribution Thursday, saying it is continually exploring strategic investments in Asia to contribute to financial inclusion through digital technology-focused financial services and to expand its business portfolio in the continent.

“Following prior investments in M-Service in Vietnam and Tonik Digital Bank in the Philippines, we have been considering further strategic investments in other digital financial providers in Asia,” the Japanese bank said. Mizuho will provide its experience and expertise to assist in the strengthening and development of Kredivo’s financial service business, the bank added.

The unbanked and underbanked population in ASEAN is still large, which means a high potential for consumer financial services, according to Mizuho Bank.

The Japanese lender in December 2021 led the $200 million series E funding of M-Service Company’s MoMo, the most popular digital wallet in Vietnam. In October of that year, Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) renamed consumer credit firm FE Credit of Vietnamese lender VPBank as VPBank SMBC Finance Co. Ltd. after spending about $1.37 billion acquiring a 49% stake in FE Credit. The consumer credit firm also targets unbanked and underbanked residents in Vietnam.

Kredivo, headquartered in the Cayman Islands, started business in Indonesia in 2016 and made its market entry into Vietnam in 2021 through a joint venture with Ho Chi Minh City-based Phoenix Holdings.

Phoenix Holdings, an investment group, said at that time that Kredivo Vietnam Joint Stock Company would be able to leverage Kredivo’s extensive PayLater expertise as well as Phoenix Holdings' broad local network and know-how.

Phoenix has a diversified portfolio in consumer, financial services, retail and technology sectors. The group includes the Timo digital bank, founded in 2021 by Phoenix Holdings chairman Henry Nguyen, who is now the CEO at Timo, which is a competitor to Vietnamese lender MSB’s neobank TNEX.