![]() At launch, Andy and Winston were only 24 and 25 years old respectively and were the only two employees of Qupital all the way up to May 2017 – a situation which led to some rather innovative sales techniques. From day one we clicked as friends, and it wasn’t long before we realised that we also clicked well as co-founders.’įrom March to August 2016, the boys worked furiously night and day in preparation for the hotly-anticipated launch of their online invoice discounting exchange platform. On top of that, our skill sets are very complimentary, as he’s very experienced in trade finance and account receivables, whereas I’m more of a tech guy. Explaining their partnership, Andy says, ‘When we first met, he was still working full time at Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG), but I could see he had a lot of passion and commitment for this project as he would always come meet me after hours and during the weekend to work on the business, despite having to regularly do OT at MUFG. It was here, during a friendly game of basketball, that Andy met the guy who would soon become his co-founder, Winston Wong. With the accounts receivables market in China being more than a whopping USD 3 trillion annually, it’s unsurprising that Andy, after a short stint working as a software engineer at the legal tech startup Swiftcourt in Denmark, decided to make the move to Hong Kong in 2015. These are the companies that are underserved by the traditional banks and are the ones that need Qupital the most.’ These are usually smaller companies with between 5-20 people, and annual turnovers of between HKD 20-200 million. ![]() Then for importers, it’s mainly food and cosmetic products. The traditional industries that Hong Kong has been really strong at export-wise are garments, electronics, and toys. Andy tells us that ‘Hong Kong is actually the 7th largest exporter in the world, ranked even higher than countries like the UK. Qupital sits in the middle, vetting sellers and verifying their invoices for the professional investors to then purchase’, explains Andy.Īt the moment, Qupital serves a wide range of SMEs in the export, manufacturing, distribution and service sectors. And then on the other side are the professional investors, or “funders”, who are looking for a short-term investment from which they can get a nice and attractive return. On the one side are the SMEs who sell products or services, and usually have to wait for their customers to pay them in 60-90 days. ‘Qupital is a marketplace, so there are two sides. Andy, spotting a gap in the market, knew he wanted to create a platform that would address Asia’s reported USD 200 billion SME financing gap by allowing clients to turn their account receivables into cash. More than a quarter of Hong Kong’s 330,000 SMEs have reported that the lack of access to working capital created a major barrier to those wanting to grow and expand globally. Whilst there are a lot of similar companies in Europe, the same cannot be said for Hong Kong, and that got me thinking’, begins Andy. ‘When I was in college, a friend of mine 3 years my senior, went on to work in New York at a company called the Receivables Exchange, an auction-based marketplace that connects large sellers of trade receivables to a broad network of institutional buyers. It was there that he first became interested in account receivables, short-term amounts due from buyers to a seller who have purchased goods or services from that seller on credit. ![]() in Computer Science and Economics at the prestigious Brown University in 2014. Though born and raised in New Zealand, Andy went on to study in the States, gaining a B.A. We talk with CEO and Co-founder Andy Chan to learn more about Qupital, and explore the various challenges that come with being a young entrepreneur in Hong Kong. The loans involved will cover up to anywhere between 80 per cent and 95 per cent of the invoice value, with investors seeing a return within a period of 30-120 days, resulting in equitable win-win opportunities for all involved. To put it simply, Qupital’s online invoice trading platform helps SMEs free up the cash that’s normally tied up in invoices outstanding by matching the companies with funders who will give out loans in exchange for a return on their investment. ![]() Hong Kong’s first and largest online invoice discounting exchange is the brainchild of mid-20-year-olds Andy Chan and Winston Wong, and it serves to address the serious lack of efficient SME financing solutions in the city’s current market. With Qupital, Hong Kong’s first online invoice financing service provider, forming a partnership with e-commerce giant Alibaba, the future looks nothing if not bright.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |