Scaling SME Lending Without Burning Capital

Couchonomics with Arjun

💸 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 #FutureOfFinance
Couchonomics with Arjun Season 04 is brought to you by our partners:
Adyen https://www.adyen.com/
Thunes https://thunes.com/
Mastercard https://mastercard.com/
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Digit9 https://www.digitnine.com/
SC Ventures https://scventures.io/
Hala https://hala.com/
chapters:
00:00 Episode Highlights
01:05 Meet Nikhilesh, CEO of Validus
01:56 The Genesis of Validus
03:05 Navigating the SME Financing Landscape
06:08 Challenges and Solutions in SME Lending
09:00 The Role of Technology in SME Financing
11:32 Supply Chain Financing Model
18:57 The Future of SME Financing
29:05 Building Relationships with SMEs
31:13 Anchor-Based Lending
32:07 Regulatory Challenges in Indonesia and Thailand
37:04 Ethical Lending Practices
42:57 Competition in the FinTech Space
49:40 Exportability and Future Plans
51:42 Impact of Global Supply Chain Disruptions
52:31 Adopting AI and Frontier Technologies
56:24 Final Thoughts and Future Directions

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