Online lending startup Oriente cuts over 25% of team

Singapore

ONLINE lending startup Oriente on Friday confirmed that it laid off under 100 employees in June in a reduction exercise undertaken in batches from the fourth quarter of 2019.

In total, the company laid off slightly more than a quarter of its more-than-2,000-strong workforce, among which three employees were from Singapore. The reductions were made across all its offices in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taiwan.

Oriente owns and operates online money-lending apps in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam - named Cashalo, Finmas and Finizi respectively.

The firm - started by Skype's co-founder Geoffrey Prentice, LU.com's Hubert Tai and BlackPine private equity's Lawrence Chu - told The Business Times that it had employed a "staggered approach" to right-size the firm. The most recent cut in June was the last of the phased organisation-wide exercise this year.

BT understands that the reductions had started last November, although the majority of layoffs came at the height of the global pandemic, starting in February.

The company now has around 1,550 employees.

DealStreetAsia had reported in May that Oriente had laid off around a fifth of its employees, mostly from roles in offline sales in the Philippines and Indonesia.

The report also said that its founders would go without a salary for the rest of the year, and that its entire senior management team would take salary cuts ranging from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.

Speaking to BT on Friday, Karun Arya, Oriente's vice-president of corporate affairs, said: "We do not expect to have to go through this painful exercise again in the foreseeable future.

"While the management team considered many different scenarios and simulations and took as many preventive measures as possible to reduce the impact of the virus, we were forced to make decisive decisions to ensure our long-term success."

He added that these measures were "required and proportionate to the new reality" of the business and industry, and that the firm needed to increase its liquidity, reduce spending and strengthen its resilience during this challenging period.

Lending businesses have been among one of the hardest-hit sectors during the global pandemic. Many countries have imposed moratoriums on debt collection, given that some businesses are facing cash flow issues, which has created difficulties in repaying their debts.

Mr Arya said: "Our aim is not only to mitigate anticipated headwinds on liquidity, but to demonstrate that our business has the potential to overcome and outperform the market in a recession - unlocking value for all stakeholders for years to come.

"We were extremely fortunate to have secured additional funding recently from new and existing investors, which will help us emerge from this crisis much stronger."

In late April, the company managed to secure an additional US$50 million for its ongoing Series B round led by Peter Lee, the co-chairman of Hong Kong property developer Henderson Land.

Website development platform Wix.com also joined the round, along with other existing investors.

The funding round comes after a November 2018 initial funding round of US$105 million; in May this year, there was a US$20 million debt-funding facility from multi-asset investment firm Silverhorn Group.

Mr Arya added that in the coming months, Oriente will deploy its resources, infrastructure and network to help businesses and their customers connect and participate in contributing to the new economy.

The startup will also be looking to fill a few senior roles in its Singapore office by the end of the year.