Velum Ventures, FOMIN, XTP1, Grupo Generaciones, and DGGF (Dutch Good Growth Fund) made a US$3.6m investment in Colombian fintech platform Sempli.

(Press Release)

• With this investment, Sempli will finance its expansion plan in Colombia and expects to strengthen its technology platform.
• Customers can request resources for working capital and growth between USD10 K and 100 K in local currency, and receive a disbursement in only 72 hours.

Colombia, September 1st, 2017. Sempli (www.sempli.co), a leading FinTech platform in the SME financing segment in Colombia, announced the closing of its first round of USD 3.6 million, through investment resources from Velum Ventures, FOMIN (Inter-American Development Bank – IDB), XTP1, Grupo Generaciones and private investors from Colombia and Europe, as well as institutional funding from the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF).

It is estimated that in Latin America 40% of GDP and 66% of employment is generated by small and medium-sized enterprises; however, only 38% of this segment has been financed at some point with traditional banking entities. According to Felipe Llano, cofounder of Sempli, “only 4 out of 10 companies manage to obtain a loan with business banking, and in most cases this process may take 6 to 10 weeks to receive the resources, in addition to the complexity in the credit analysis and guarantees that are asked to the entrepreneurs. With Sempli, we seek to deepen the use of credit and liquidity financial products by SMEs, which allows them to access resources for working capital
and growth”.

Sempli has a greater appetite for risk to serve small and medium-sized businesses by accepting a shorter credit history or lower collateral. Through the use of technology, transaction costs are expected to be lower and, using multiple data, information asymmetry is reduced by combining manual and automated analyses to power its -SempliScore- scoring system. Eligible applicant companies can expect to receive a loan within 2 to 3 days following their digital application, and in local currency equivalent to USD 10-100K.

Esteban Velasco, cofounder of Velum Ventures and Sempli, commented that “we are committed to building a solid enterprise base that can execute its expansion plans and that, in a responsible way, goes to alternative credit solutions. We expect to become a dominant player in the Fintech online lending category for SMEs and add a second round of investment and funding in the next two years that will allow us in the medium term support this segment with more than USD 50 million”.

Sempli has positioned as a simple and timely solution for SME lending, using technological platforms in its processes of prospecting, analysis, contracting and disbursements. In addition, entrepreneurs have complementary services through specialized content, online courses and tools in finance and corporate governance to support the financial management and administration of their companies.