💸 What’s the real fintech miracle? Lending to SMEs — and staying alive 9 years later.In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we’re joined by Nikhilesh Goel, Co-Founder & CEO of Validus, Southeast Asia’s largest SME financing platform.We unpack how Validus scaled to $5B+ in credit across the region by avoiding the hype and building disciplined, anchor-based lending models that actually work.💡 Why SME lending is a graveyard for most fintechs 💡 Why 90% of Validus' capital comes from banks, not VCs 💡 AI that serves the ops, not the pitch 💡 How they scaled across SEA without shortcuts🎧 Full episode now live on YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts. Watch if you're building real fintech — not just noise.#CouchonomicsWithArjun #Validus #SMELending #Fintech #DigitalBanking #AnchorLending #SoutheastAsia #FutureOfFinanceCouchonomics with Arjun Season 04 is brought to you by our partners:Adyen https://www.adyen.com/Thunes https://thunes.com/Mastercard https://mastercard.com/E& https://www.eand.com/Digit9 https://www.digitnine.com/SC Ventures https://scventures.io/Hala https://hala.com/chapters:00:00 Episode Highlights01:05 Meet Nikhilesh, CEO of Validus01:56 The Genesis of Validus03:05 Navigating the SME Financing Landscape06:08 Challenges and Solutions in SME Lending09:00 The Role of Technology in SME Financing11:32 Supply Chain Financing Model18:57 The Future of SME Financing29:05 Building Relationships with SMEs31:13 Anchor-Based Lending 32:07 Regulatory Challenges in Indonesia and Thailand37:04 Ethical Lending Practices42:57 Competition in the FinTech Space49:40 Exportability and Future Plans51:42 Impact of Global Supply Chain Disruptions52:31 Adopting AI and Frontier Technologies56:24 Final Thoughts and Future DirectionsOur website 👉 https://bit.ly/3jk7UH0Find us on our social media platforms: Arjun's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjunvirsingh/ CCN LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/couchonomics-with-arjun-singh/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/couchonomics/ Twitter https://twitter.com/Arjun_Vir_Singh?s=20 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@couchonomics Subscribe to Arjun's LinkedIn newsletter, Couchonomics Crunch: https://bit.ly/3WI4A6E

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