First Circle

First Circle is a financial technology company operating in the Philippines, established to address the significant financing gap for the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Founded in 2016 by Patrick Lynch, Tony Ennis, and Jorrit Koop, the firm provides non-collateral business loans and other financial services to a market segment that has historically been underserved by traditional banks. The founding team brought together valuable experience from different sectors; Lynch's background includes roles at Morgan Stanley and CompareAsiaGroup, while Ennis was the former chief technology officer at Web Summit. This blend of financial and technological expertise underpins the company's approach.

The company's core business revolves around providing working capital to SMEs through a proprietary technology platform. This platform utilizes alternative data points, such as e-commerce transactions and social media data, to create its own credit scores, allowing for rapid loan assessments, often within 24 hours. First Circle's business model involves borrowing from banks and then lending those funds to SMEs, leveraging its technology to manage a large volume of small customers more efficiently than traditional financial institutions. Revenue is generated from the interest on these loans, which are offered at competitive rates, starting as low as 0.99% per month.

First Circle offers several key products, including invoice financing, purchase order financing, and a more flexible business credit line. These services are designed to be fast, fair, and flexible, allowing businesses to borrow up to P20 million without collateral. Recently, the company has expanded its offerings to include fee-free business banking and payment solutions, as well as employee salary loans. A significant milestone was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2018, which made First Circle's loans available through the DTI's Negosyo Centers, greatly expanding its reach. Since its inception, the company has disbursed billions of pesos in loans to thousands of SMEs, with a notable portion being women-led firms.

Keywords: SME financing, financial technology, Philippines, business loans, working capital, trade finance, purchase order financing, invoice financing, fintech, SME lending, collateral-free loans, online lending, business credit line, Patrick Lynch, financial inclusion, Southeast Asia, digital banking, alternative lending, business financing, credit scoring