The two offerings are aimed at scaling high-growth companies and digital platform businesses respectively.

HSBC is launching a $150 million venture debt offering in Singapore and a $1 billion growth fund for the ASEAN region.

“The new venture debt capability provides a longer-term and flexible financing solution to companies, supporting a range of funding requirements such as capital expenditure, runway extension, and working capital for up to three years in tenor,” HSBC said.

Venture debt is a type of loan offered by banks and non-bank lenders which is targeted at early-stage, high-growth companies with venture capital backing. Venture debt does not replace equity; it follows it. The amount of venture debt tends to be calibrated to the amount of equity the company has raised, with loan sizes varying between 25 per cent and 35 per cent of the amount raised.

The HSBC ASEAN Growth fund, meanwhile, covers six ASEAN markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The fund aims to provide funding to digital platform businesses including e-commerce players, the bank said in a statement earlier this week.

“Like so many other internationally-minded businesses, we are excited about ASEAN’s booming digital economy,” Amanda Murphy, head of commercial banking for South and Southeast Asia at HSBC, said. “With a working population that is digitally native, increasing in size, and poised to consume more goods and services – especially on e-commerce – ASEAN has so much potential for growth.” 

(In total, there are 10 ASEAN countries. Besides those mentioned above, the others are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, and Mynamar.)