The Venture Codex

Participated · Series B · May 2023

Jenfi provides revenue-based financing to online businesses, offering funding from $10,000 to $1 million with flexible repayment plans of three to 12 months. The company was founded in 2019 by Jeffrey Liu and Justin Louie and is based in Singapore. Since inception it has deployed more than $25 million in non-dilutive capital to about 600 companies, whose aggregate sales exceed $150 million. Jenfi differentiates via a proprietary risk assessment engine that integrates with accounting software, payment gateways, e-commerce platforms, marketplaces and advertising channels to continuously monitor borrowers. The firm has implemented a machine learning-assisted underwriting system and is adding local data integrations (including Haravan, KiotViet and most banks in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia) to improve credit decisions. Future plans include refining underwriting and risk capabilities, working with synthetic data, building a tech platform for third parties to use its scoring models, launching dynamic limits and an on-demand financing product for recurring ad spend. Jenfi provides revenue-based financing of up to $500,000 with flexible, target-based repayment plans and a flat fee, positioning itself as “growth capital as a product.” Founded in 2019 by Jeffrey Liu and Justin Louie, the company focuses on digital-native firms such as SaaS providers and e-commerce sellers and runs a fully online application process that can deliver financing in under 24 hours in some cases. Its proprietary risk assessment engine integrates data from bank accounts, accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks), payment gateways (Stripe, Braintree), e-commerce platforms (Shopify, Shopee, Lazada) and advertising platforms (Facebook Ads, Google Ads). Jenfi reports that the average customer saw compounded sales growth of ~26.5% over three months, 60% over six months and 156% over 12 months; aggregate sales across its portfolio exceed $30 million. The company previously raised $25 million in debt financing from San Francisco-based Arc Labs and aims to deploy $15 million by July 2022. Part of the new funding will be used to build additional integrations and automated analytics and to expand tools and services beyond financing to help portfolio companies grow. Jenfi offers growth-focused financing to small and medium businesses in Southeast Asia, lending directly or issuing a virtual Jenfi Mastercard for purchases. The company funds marketing-driven growth and takes a percentage of future revenue rather than imposing fixed repayment schedules. Jenfi partners with marketing agencies and services to help borrowers optimize alternative marketing channels, while avoiding becoming a direct service provider. Founders Jeffrey Liu and Justin Louie launched the business from a base in Singapore and are positioning marketing growth as their initial product focus. Since launch last year the startup has onboarded 50 borrowers and lent SGD$600,000 to date. Jenfi is currently going through Y Combinator and plans to expand to additional geographies and broaden its product offering over the next two years.

Led · Series A · Apr 2021

WhiteCoat is a Singapore-based digital healthcare platform that provides on-demand telemedicine services, including primary care, chronic disease management, and specialist care via a single digital platform. Launched in 2018, the platform enables end-to-end care from registration and consultation to prescription and delivery. The company saw strong usage growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting an 8x increase in revenue and a 7x surge in consultation figures in 2020. WhiteCoat plans to use new funding to accelerate its regional footprint, enhance its platform, and expand its suite of remote healthcare services. Company leadership emphasizes scaling technology and services to benefit patients, healthcare professionals, and insurers across the region.

Participated · Series B · Feb 2020

Dahmakan is a Malaysian full-stack food delivery startup that creates and delivers its own meals using cloud kitchens. Its platform centers on an operating system that controls nearly every step of operations, from recipe development to last-mile delivery, and it operates satellite hubs located around cities to be closer to customers. Instead of delivering from restaurants, Dahmakan offers about 40 menu options each week drawn from a database of 2,000 dishes, selecting menus based on customer data and market research. Customers pick from a schedule of delivery times and menus are tailored using preferences and spending-habit data. The company was launched by former Foodpanda executives and was the first Malaysian startup to participate in Y Combinator. Financially, Dahmakan has raised $18M in a Series B, bringing total funding to about $28M. The startup positions its vertically integrated model as a way to reduce delivery costs and serve growing demand for food delivery in Southeast Asia. dahmakan is a Malaysia-based cloud kitchen and food delivery startup. The company operates cloud kitchens and provides food delivery services. It has announced a $5 million Series A funding round. The round was backed by both existing and new investors, and the article specifically names Partech Partners and China’s UpHonest Capital. The article does not disclose revenue, user metrics, prior rounds, or use of proceeds. Dahmakan operates an end-to-end food delivery service that cooks all dishes in-house and dispatches them to customers on scheduled delivery windows. The company markets healthier meal options and offers a Prime package for bulk meal purchases as well as business catering. On the tech side it has invested in logistics and AI, building the Dahmakan Intelligent Operator System (DIOS), a self-learning system to manage fleet and demand. Dahmakan says it is unit profitable and reports month-to-month sales growth of about 20% ongoing since launch. The startup was founded in 2015 by a trio of ex-FoodPandas (co-founder Jessica Li among them) and is based in Kuala Lumpur. It plans to use new funding to develop technology and explore expansion across Southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Thailand under consideration. Dah Makan operates a subscription-leaning, full-stack meal delivery service with fixed lunch and dinner menus and optimized delivery routes to control quality and costs. The service accepts last orders 45 minutes before time slots and pushes bulk credit packages (e.g., 5/20/50 meals for 99/379/999 MYR). The company processes more than 1,000 daily orders and says it is profitable on every order at the unit level, though marketing and overhead are not included in that claim. Dah Makan Prime accounts for the majority of current revenue. The team plans heavy investment in technology—routing, clustering, and rider-allocation learning—to improve operations. Management is targeting expansion into other parts of Southeast Asia before year-end while focusing this round on Kuala Lumpur rather than a Malaysia-wide roll-out.