DALMA Capital, a global alternative investment management platform and advisor, said Friday it advised Philippine fintech startup Salmon on a $20-million debt financing deal, the largest for a Series A company from the Philippines.
The debt transaction, backed by emerging-markets specialist investment firm Argentem Creek Partners, is also the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia in a year. The financing will allow the credit-led fintech firm to further scale its lending operations across the Philippines. The transaction was completed despite volatility in the credit markets, it said.
“Credit market volatility and the demise of certain traditional lenders to growth stage tech companies has created a vacuum in the marketplace, which alternative credit funds appear selectively prepared to fill,” said Dalma Capital managing director John Porter, who led the team that advised on the transaction.
“In addition, while in the past many Southeast Asian deals were being funded from Singapore and Hong Kong, we are seeing a lot more interest from investors in the Middle East and the West, which is a break with precedent,” Porter said