On Building An Online Financing Marketplace [From Singapore]

Morgan Terigi

•

Published: February 19th, 2022

save

Morgan Terigi

Founder, Incomlend Pte Ltd

Founders

Employees

Incomlend Pte Ltd

Incomlend.com

from Singapore

started January 2016

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools Morgan recommends to grow your business!

social media

Twitter

Discover what books Morgan recommends to grow your business!

Want more updates on Incomlend Pte Ltd? Check out these stories:

I'm Morgan Terigi, the CEO and co-founder of Incomlend, an online global invoice financing marketplace that connects quality small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with institutional investors globally. The company was founded in 2016, and we have funded more than US$500 million in trades across 50 countries worldwide, assisting in the movement of thousands of tonnes of goods across a vast range of sectors.

At Incomlend, we provide SMEs with working capital solutions to help them scale their business, with a vision to narrow the global finance trade gap underserved by traditional financial institutions. We do this through our tech-enabled and secure platform that serves as a worldwide invoice financing marketplace to match proven exporters and importers with a comprehensive network of accredited and institutional investors.

We recently launched Incomlend Capital, an Incomlend Group company that offers institutional and accredited investors a range of competitive and stable trade finance investment solutions. Through funds management, the company provided accredited and institutional investors access to our global invoice financing marketplace. The marketplace currently gives SMEs access to working capital solutions by matching proven exporters and importers with world-class investors.

Incomlend Capital is a strategic asset that can help the company scale the global invoice financing marketplace. With more investors and funding, we can deliver alternative working capital solutions to more quality SMEs globally in a quick turnaround that enables them to accelerate their business growth.

on-building-an-online-financing-marketplace

What's your backstory, and how did you come up with the idea?

I started Incomlend with a partner, Dmitri Kouchnirenko, back in January 2016. With an initial startup capital of US$465,000, we launched the business in Singapore with a core team of five people.

We spotted a gap in the market and created and launched a supply-chain finance platform that enables companies to access funding for their working capital needs. We realized a need to bridge the gap between institutional investors, accredited investors, and SMEs.

Our team worked tirelessly with business agents and introducers in over 30 countries throughout Asia, Europe, and the USA. We broke even two years after we started Incomlend. We have financed a significant number of transactions in over 50 countries worldwide during the last five years.

Our team covers the main financial industry areas: legal, credit analysis, risk, recovery, compliance, and the usual sales and admin functions.

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.

We started the company when we noticed that the existing peer-to-peer lending environment doesn't provide enough financing for the trading industry (importers/exporters). We launched a peer-to-business platform that would incorporate companies and individuals from various industries worldwide to help SMEs unlock their growth by transforming their post-shipment receivables into actionable cash and supporting their export business and local sales.

Pooling together various parties' collective expertise and knowledge enable entrepreneurs to achieve and drive better outcomes.

The supply of goods for import and export is often protracted with logistics and customs delays, leading to substantial demand for supply-chain finance within this sector. Borrowing against stock in transit is a notoriously underserved part of financial services, as most traditional banks cannot quickly assess the risks.

Describe the process of launching the business.

In February 2016, we managed to raise US$465,000 in pre-seed capital. It financed the first version of our transactional marketplace and the back-office and front-office systems, legal, risk, and compliance infrastructure. We launched our first-ever transaction in December 2016. In July the following year, we launched the second round of fundraising and raised US$1 million. In October 2017, we launched our supply chain finance module, securing the first buyer-driven partnerships.

In December 2017, we won the prestigious French Singapore Chamber of Commerce award for the Best Startup and later ranked among the top 20 Hottest Singapore Startups by the Singapore Business Review.

In February 2018, Incomlend signed a critical partnership with a Singapore licensed Trust company for investor fund protection. One month later, in March 2018, Incomlend welcomed strategic investor GTR Ventures.

In August 2020, we closed our Series A funding round, raising USD20 million in the process.

Since then, we've been hard at work and staying true to our mission and vision, introducing new launches, financing quality SMEs, and connecting them with accredited investors around the world.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

SMEs keep the economy alive everywhere in the world. Unfortunately, they are often underserved by traditional financial institutions as they struggle to prove their creditworthiness. Regardless of where the SMEs are located, the challenge is real. As a business owner, I have experienced it first-hand throughout my business journey worldwide.

We set up Incomlend as a trusted financial partner to provide SMEs access to competitive and alternative non-recourse working capital solutions to safeguard their financial health and quickly capture new revenue opportunities, especially after an economic downturn.

We connect SMEs with world-class accredited and institutional investors as an invoice financing marketplace. By delivering an intuitive, easy-to-use, tech-enabled, and secure invoice financing platform.

At the same time, we are giving investors access to competitive and alternative working capital investment. Investors can allocate their capital to individual invoices or to groups of invoices that meet their preferences.

We combine our custom-tailored advice, the latest technology, and industry research for investors to achieve optimal returns at a risk level suited to their needs. Investors will benefit from the fund management team's active portfolio management, risk management, and security selection in addition to having their investments in a transparent, secured, and ring-fenced asset-holding structure. With this model, investors can earn steady and stable returns while helping SMEs access working capital to accelerate their growth.

I think that our commitment to our mission shows through our work. The dedication to the growth of SMEs and the success of investors plays a huge role in us not only attracting but also retaining our customers.

How are you doing today, and what does the future look like?

Incomlend has experienced significant growth in the past two years. Since we closed our Series A round, we have rolled out new initiatives, further shaping and enhancing the Incomlend business model.

In October 2021, we secured US$60 million from Fasanara Capital to launch Asia's first ESG-focused structured finance program. The initiative, named Incomlend ESG Invoice Financing Programme, is tailored for SMEs looking to positively impact their communities while continuing to capture new business opportunities and grow their revenue.

We have also since obtained the Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which allows us to conduct fund management activities. With this, we launched Incomlend Capital to the financial services market in November 2021. Incomlend Capital was created to offer institutional and accredited investors a range of competitive and stable trade finance investment solutions.

We are also expanding our presence to other parts of the world; we look forward to sharing our expansion and business growth in the coming months.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

Gathering the courage to step off the well-traveled career trajectory is often the first and hardest step for many aspiring entrepreneurs. For many, this would mean leaving behind a life of stability and familiarity and potentially facing a significant number of uncertainties through the entrepreneurial journey. From balancing work and family commitments to forsaking aspects of life, starting a business of your own is not an easy decision to make.

Aspiring entrepreneurs should dig deep to find the driving force behind charting their paths. In my case, it was realizing that rules and processes had to be followed when we worked for someone else. But was I making an impact or a difference by following what was dictated of me? I soon recognized that change only ever happens when you are brave enough to go beyond your boundaries and take charge of your life.

I have also learned that understanding the pulse of the market and industry trends and evolving with the times is vital in ensuring your company stays relevant and thrives in today's dynamic business landscape.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

One of the key trends sweeping across all industries is digitalization. No matter the sector, digital technology is something that budding entrepreneurs must embrace.

For Incomlend, we leverage several digital technologies, tools, and platforms to transform ourselves and stay on top of market trends and changes. For example, amid the uptick in buyers defaulting on payment in 2020, we saw the significant need for a self-service credit assessment tool among SMEs. In response, we introduced TradeCheck, an online credit limit assessment tool that enables exporters to quickly assess potential overseas buyers' creditworthiness. It bypasses third-party credit reports and lengthy processes set in place by traditional financial institutions.

With CMA CGM, we launched a platform, Shipfin Trade Finance, to provide trade finance services to their shipping and logistics group customers. The platform offers factoring and supply chain finance to exporters and importers across their network of 160 countries. The partnership serves cross-border trading companies' cash flow needs and further increases global financial inclusion for trading SMEs.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

As a business leader, I take the time daily to catch up on the latest news from different media outlets worldwide: China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Russia, and the US. It keeps me updated on the key events moving the markets and considers them differently. It helps me think more critically about new market developments and make objective decisions.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to start or are just beginning?

To succeed in today's business climate, you will need to foster a strong collaborative relationship with fellow entrepreneurs.

Building stronger, strategic partnerships with different players across the broader ecosystem can help your company innovate and enhance the quality of your services and products. Pooling together various parties' collective expertise and knowledge enable entrepreneurs to achieve and drive better outcomes. It makes a difference when addressing the market's unmet demands.

The road to entrepreneurship is not a smooth sailing one. It requires commitment, perseverance, forward-thinking, and problem solving to create a viable business. While the journey is not easy, it can be a rewarding one. I must add that there will be failures along the way, but this is normal because when you fail, you learn. It is about living your life in a way that is as fulfilling and as rich as possible through different experiences.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

We're expanding our presence and growing aggressively in different regions. You can visit our LinkedIn page to find out the roles that we're currently hiring.