PETALING JAYA: Silverlake Group has collaborated with a digital platform called Kongsi by providing US$200,000 (RM850,500) technology investment to strengthen risk management and technology innovation.
Kongsi is a digital platform that helps solve cash flow problems for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with the creation of a non-cash alternative-financing platform.
In a statement, Silverlake said it saw Kongsi as an alternative solution that could help formal and informal MSME sector to improve cash flow and build a sustainable trade ecosystem for the 99% of businesses in Malaysia and Asean.
Besides the Malaysian market, Silverlike said it saw the enormous potential Kongsi posed to expand beyond Malaysia into the Asean market.
“Silverlake is always keen to explore collaboration with innovative start-ups in the fintech space. We are delighted to be partnering Kongsi, sharing the same vision of deploying technology to transform and future-proof SME businesses.
“Combining Silverlake’s proven and deep technology innovations with Kongsi’s market knowledge and domain expertise in eCommerce, we can offer the SME ecosystem participants a unique value-exchange platform to grow the value and extend the reach of their businesses across the Asean region, ” said Silverlake chairman Goh Peng Ooi (pic).
Under the partnership, Silverlake will assist Kongsi to convert the current Kongsi Points transaction system onto Blockchain technology and at the same time, develop a unique credit scoring system for the platform.
Presently, micro and small businesses are not bankable due to the absence of creditworthiness data especially in the informal sector that accounts to around 4 million businesses in the MSME sector.
“We view this investment from Silverlake as a big milestone to us since Silverlake is one of the largest and most reputable providers in banking and financing technologies.
“We are glad that Silverlake sees the potential in Kongsi and believes in championing the cause of MSME businesses that have been sidelined for the longest time by the traditional financing system, ” said Kongsi executive director Dr Mohar Yusof.
“With the support of a proven technology player as a technology partner, we believe Silverlake’s knowledge in system risk management will transition Kongsi’s enrollment onto the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox, ” he added.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/07/28/silverlake-forms-partnership-with-digital-platform-kongsi