PETALING JAYA: Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd is partnering with Singaporean fintech firm Helicap Pte Ltd to advance its digitalisation initiatives.
As part of the partnership, Kenanga Group, through a fund managed by its asset and wealth management arm, Kenanga Investors Bhd, has collectively taken a stake of 8% in Helicap. The investment forms Helicap’s Series B funding round, which sees Kenanga Group as lead investor alongside Saison Capital Pte Ltd, the corporate venture capital arm of Credit Saison, one of Japan’s non-bank financial companies that is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Subsequently, Kenanga Group’s stake will be increased to about 10%, making Kenanga Group the largest institutional investor in Helicap.
Helicap, one of the first fintech private investment platforms specialising in the alternative lending space in Southeast Asia, has built its success on a foundation of innovation and technology. Central to its competitive edge is its proprietary credit analytics engine, which stands as the company’s strongest asset.
Kenanga Group managing director Datuk Chay Wai Leong said, “By focusing on digital innovation, we have provided multiple touchpoints to enable our clients to engage with our services more efficiently and effectively. Therefore, our investment into Helicap is a natural progression in our digitalisation journey, as Helicap’s proprietary technology can potentially be embedded into Kenanga’s own lending and investment banking business seamlessly to provide greater loan book transparency and analysis, portfolio and credit risk monitoring and granular-level data to identify nascent opportunities and obtain microeconomic insights.”
Kenanga Group’s latest investment builds upon its broader digitalisation initiatives, following its successful investments into Rakuten, CapBay, Tokenize Malaysia and Merchantrade.
Kenanga Investors executive director and CEO Datuk Wira Ismitz Matthew De Alwis remarked that their enhanced partnership with Helicap will enable them to tap into its global network as a source of offshore capital as well as to facilitate deal co-origination and syndication efforts in both Singapore and Malaysia.
Ultimately, he added, they believe this will provide a strategic base for Kenanga Group to build further cross-border collaborative partnerships and capitalise on the dynamic growth in the region, as well as the rising income and affluence among Southeast Asian investors.
Helicap Securities co-founder and CEO David Z Wang said the collaboration represents a significant milestone as it unites Kenanga’s robust local market presence and billions in assets with an extensive client base with Helicap’s powerful, sector-agnostic, data-driven platform and proprietary analytics technology.
As a leader in Asia's private credit space, Helicap is poised to drive meaningful growth in Malaysia, he added.
“Our commitment to financial inclusion and innovative investment solutions remains unwavering, as we continue to address the dynamic needs of investors and lenders alike,” Wang said.
Since its establishment in 2018, Helicap, through its regulated subsidiaries, has deployed almost S$500 million (RM1.65 billion), offering investment opportunities in Southeast Asia to accredited and institutional investors. As a leading platform operator in Southeast Asia, it has strategically focused its investments primarily on financial companies, leveraging its unique credit screening system and enhanced loan structure to deliver stable and consistent returns.
