Singapore-based online lending platform Aspire has raised $32.5m in a series A round that featured MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, a venture capital fund managed by insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
The round was filled out by commitments from ArcLabs and existing investors Hummingbird Ventures, Picus Capital and Y Combinator.
Aspire operates an online platform that enables small and medium-sized enterprises to take out small loans of up to approximately $70,000 to fund business expenses. Andrea Baronchelli, Aspire’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch roughly 1,000 businesses are opening accounts on the platform each month.
The company will use the series A funds to strengthen its presence in Southeast Asia, having established a presence in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Aspire, which graduated from Y Combinator’s accelerator program in 2018, has now raised approximately $41.5m in total funding.
The latest funding comes in the wake of a $9m round in July 2018 that featured Y Combinator, Insignia Ventures Partners, Mark 2 Capital, Hummingbird Ventures, according to Tech In Asia.