Singapore fintech start-up Turnkey Lender, which has developed an intelligent cloud software for lending automation, has raised US$2 million (S$2.75 million) from Vertex Ventures, the venture capital unit of Temasek Holdings.

Turnkey Lender will use this investment to fund expansive projects across the region, develop its products and expand its team.

Its solution makes use of machine learning and data analysis to understand potential loan applicants, ranging from small to large-scale loans.

Founders Elena Ionenko and Dmitry Voronenko, both with more than 16 years of experience in the financial and fintech fields, built the solution when they saw lending increasingly moving online.

"Our goal is to enable new lending companies with bank-grade technology and to help existing small and medium-sized lenders digitise their services," said Mr Voronenko.

The company has more than 40 customers across 25 countries, with most of its clients in the United States. The bulk of its South-east Asian clients are in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Customers fall into three main groups: alternative lenders and financing companies; micro-lenders and cooperatives; and small banks. Target loan applicants can span from student loans to consumer loans or even telcos. Many clients still make use of handwritten application forms and manual processing, so Turnkey Lender aims to offer a modern software service which makes on-boarding of new customers and assessment quick and easy, it said in a statement.

The initial development for the firm was done in the Ukraine. It is now headquartered in Singapore.