Invoice-discounting firm for SME’s ApexPeak , with operations in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia has acquired Dubai’s Cashnomix in a move expected to help up its lending process.
Casnomix, a cloud-based platform that enables UAE SME’s get short-term cash via invoice-discounting recently upgraded its credit scoring algorithm for invoices and has been reported to have served over $1.2 million in SME receivable purchases through its system. The credit scoring application is expected to help ApexPeak make underwriting faster for SMEs and help approve transactions really quick.
This will help SME’s upload invoices onto the ApexPeak platform and then get approved for funding quickly.
Sujith Kurup, the founder and CEO of Cashnomix, also a former Operations Director of Aztec Money told Finextra: ‘Everybody thinks the Middle East is flush with cash. While it is true to some degree, that cash does not readily reach small businesses. The process for small businesses to get short-term finance is difficult and, furthermore, the cost of borrowing from traditional lenders is very high, between 18-30% per annum.”
Kurup added that the Cashnomix risk model solves a dilemma that has troubled the UAE for years adding that credit data on companies is sparse and makes underwriting decisions labour-intensive. The algorithm will solve that.
According to TechinAsia, ApexPeak raised over $1.84 million in convertible note seed funding to help drive invoice discounting in both Singapore and South Africa. The firm charges 2% as its processing fee and ensures firm get their money within five days. The firm reported to have processed invoices worth between $4,000 to $120,000, in Singapore and an average of $20,000 in South Africa.
The acquisition will help the firm become even more efficient.