Qupital, a Hong Kong-based trade finance platform, announced on Wednesday it secured $15 million through its Series A investment round, which was led by CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund (CEFIF) with additional capital injections from the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs fund and MindWorks Ventures. Qupital reported that it plans to use the funds to expand their presence in mainland China, enlarge their technology development and risk management teams, and strengthen its cross-border e-commerce expansion.
“The Series A capital raise is an important step in the strategic planning of Qupital. Adding CreditEase as a strategic investor in this round of funding creates business synergies benefiting both parties. As a pioneer and leader specializing in inclusive finance and wealth management, CreditEase will provide marketplace lending access and networks, to facilitate the geographical expansion of Qupital, as well as bringing onthe-ground operational expertise. In addition, the wealth management team of CreditEase is also considering to provide new capital to fund SMEs’ trades.”
Speaking about the investment, Dennis Cong, PhD, Managing Director of CEFIF, stated:
“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.”
Winston Wong, Founder of Qupital, went on to add:
“Qupital has accomplished remarkable results since 2016. Since the completion of the seed round financing, we successfully handled over 8,000 transactions, totalling HKD 2 billion. Over the past two years, we are grateful to all our investment partners for supporting Qupital. In particular, we are honored to receive the capital injection from our strategic investor, CreditEase in this round of funding, whose Vision, Mission and Values (VMV) matches with Qupital. “, said .” We are also extremely pleased to receive the continuing trust from the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and MindWorks Ventures.”