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Jenfi adds $2.5M mezzanine facility from ICU Ventures

What's the deal? Jenfi, a Southeast Asian small and medium enterprise (SME) credit platform, has closed a $2.5 million mezzanine facility from existing investor ICU VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The debt facility will sit alongside Jenfi's senior funding arrangements and fund new SME loans across Singapore and Vietnam.

Why now? The deal follows Jenfi crossing $100 million in cumulative SME financing across Southeast Asia. It said the fresh capital will support new originations, improve senior capital deployment, and add flexibility as its portfolio grows.

What's the endgame? Jenfi has moved beyond its original revenue-based financing focus to offer growth financing, working capital, and supply chain financing. To date it has completed more than 2,400 financings and evaluated over 30,000 SME inquiries, using proprietary underwriting models, alternative data, and automated portfolio monitoring.

Jenfi's stated goal is to fund the next $100 million in SME financing. It also plans to expand institutional capital relationships, embedded financing partnerships, and AI-assisted underwriting.

Between the lines: ICU Ventures already held an equity stake in Jenfi, so the shift to providing credit signals deepening confidence. It said Jenfi has "strengthened its underwriting, expanded its financing solutions, and executed consistently across its core markets."

The signal: Southeast Asian SMEs remain underserved, and Jenfi's mix of senior institutional funding with mezzanine capital points to a diversifying funding base. As ICU Ventures put it, capital alone is not enough without underwriting and risk controls that scale together.

Read more: Small Business Online Network

Image credit: johnomason

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