{"id":2922,"date":"2024-08-26T05:21:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T05:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverchain-wp-dev.technine.com.hk\/?p=2922"},"modified":"2025-06-16T09:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T09:54:46","slug":"hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a financing gap in construction widens, Riverchain offers relief to subcontractors, who are often the last to get paid for their work<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sporting venue under construction at Kai Tak Sports Park, May 10, 2024. Photo: Jelly Tse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Hong Kong building subcontractor surnamed Chan, who was responsible for electrical and mechanical work in air-conditioning systems on a project at Hong Kong International Airport at the beginning of this year, waited several months for the project\u2019s main contractor to pay him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeking relief from his liquidity problem, Chan even approached banks but was told that a loan would take months to approve, as lenders are now more cautious when it comes to construction projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sector is facing challenging times with a financing gap that continues to widen. Back-to-back payment arrangements, long waits for invoices to be paid, and time-consuming paper-based processes are locking up an estimated HK$53.8 billion (US$6.9 billion) in the construction supply chain each year and creating a need for accessible and efficient working capital, according to Riverchain, a Hong Kong-based fintech start-up that is trying to address that need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A construction subcontractor hired to handle a specic aspect of a larger construction project often needs to obtain a cash advance to cover the wages of its employees and materials bought for other projects in hand while waiting for payments to come through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The team at Riverchain, with CEO Ben Wong on the far right. Photo: Handout<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI waited more than six months, and final payments took even longer, \u201d Chan said, declining to disclose the amount he was owed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He tried to borrow money from friends and even used a property as collateral, but \u201cthe approval also took some time, which can\u2019t ease cash flow issues\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan said the problem has become more common since the city\u2019s property market went into a downturn. \u201cDevelopers have become more prudent so the number of private projects is less, \u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, a labour dispute erupted at the construction site of Seasons Place at Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O, jointly developed by the MTR Corp and Wheelock Properties, as nearly 100 workers had not been paid more than HK$6 million in wages, according to local media reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, Chan turned to Riverchain, which provides online cash advances by using alternative industry data to determine if a borrower is suitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He uploaded his project invoice and relevant documents and received around 90 per cent of his project\u2019s funding amount, minus a one-o Riverchain fee, within 48 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe construction sector has traditionally had a lack of access to nancial products designed for the sector, \u201d said Ben Wong, CEO of Riverchain. \u201cWe have designed a nancing product that is a working capital relief where we are able to turn their accounts receivable into cash. \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also noticed that the sector is largely behind when it comes to digitalisation and we want to make the supply chain a little bit more transparent and uniform, \u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riverchain\u2019s digital platform features a risk model that capitalises on industry knowledge and the ability to unlock value from both unstructured and structured industry data, for example, construction site data, performance data and money ow data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fintech firm will purchase the construction invoice and provide a cash advance of up to 90 per cent.\u201cWe will then wait for the full amount of the invoice to be paid out by the client and send [our customer] the balance of the payment minus our fees, which is below market average\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start-up, which has been going for seven months, launched a HK$400 million fund to support the city\u2019s subcontractors and construction suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fund is going to help us accelerate [growth], as we do believe there are a lot of projects still in the pipeline \u2026 a combination of public and private projects, \u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has provided financial support to more than 30 projects, including 11 Skies, The Henderson and Kai Tak Sports Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe that the construction sector is a core driver of economic growth in Hong Kong \u2026 so we\u2019re going to continue supporting it, and we\u2019re looking for specic opportunities in the construction sector where we canprovide the working capital, but also identify a very good quality asset class to our investors,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the current property market slump, Riverchain sees a lot of good projects that can be supported and expects that by the end of this year it will have deployed capital of about HK$500 million, reaching HK$2 billion by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just conning ourselves to Hong Kong. We hope to be able to tap into the Southeast Asian region in the next year, because the supply chain and construction [there] is similar in terms of needing to be able to adopt digital solutions, but also needing to address some of the working capital needs they have,\u201d Wong said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

View Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a financing gap in construction widens, Riverchain offers relief to subcontractors, who are often the last to get paid for their work The sporting venue under construction at Kai…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coverage","category-newsroom"],"yoast_head":"\nHong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump - Riverchain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_HK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump - Riverchain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a financing gap in construction widens, Riverchain offers relief to subcontractors, who are often the last to get paid for their work The sporting venue under construction at Kai...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Riverchain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-26T05:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-16T09:54:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"parischeng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"parischeng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9810\u8a08\u95b1\u8b80\u6642\u9593\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 \u5206\u9418\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/\",\"name\":\"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump - Riverchain\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-26T05:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-16T09:54:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#\/schema\/person\/65633d024c6af2adf5a4fe377e0bc1e0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/\",\"name\":\"Riverchain\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#\/schema\/person\/65633d024c6af2adf5a4fe377e0bc1e0\",\"name\":\"parischeng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61ae6695f43e12b5587652f9579b38dd010228c7ee06325ff2c0ca67458f9108?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61ae6695f43e12b5587652f9579b38dd010228c7ee06325ff2c0ca67458f9108?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"parischeng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/author\/parischeng\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump - Riverchain","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/","og_locale":"zh_HK","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump - Riverchain","og_description":"As a financing gap in construction widens, Riverchain offers relief to subcontractors, who are often the last to get paid for their work The sporting venue under construction at Kai...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/","og_site_name":"Riverchain","article_published_time":"2024-08-26T05:21:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-16T09:54:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"parischeng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u4f5c\u8005":"parischeng","\u9810\u8a08\u95b1\u8b80\u6642\u9593":"5 \u5206\u9418"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/","url":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/","name":"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump - Riverchain","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png","datePublished":"2024-08-26T05:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-16T09:54:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#\/schema\/person\/65633d024c6af2adf5a4fe377e0bc1e0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"zh-HK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-HK","@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/placeholder_coverage-scaled.png","width":1920,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/hong-kong-fintech-start-up-offers-loans-to-unpaid-subcontractors-amid-building-slump\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hong Kong fintech start-up offers loans to unpaid subcontractors amid building slump"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/","name":"Riverchain","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"zh-HK"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#\/schema\/person\/65633d024c6af2adf5a4fe377e0bc1e0","name":"parischeng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-HK","@id":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61ae6695f43e12b5587652f9579b38dd010228c7ee06325ff2c0ca67458f9108?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61ae6695f43e12b5587652f9579b38dd010228c7ee06325ff2c0ca67458f9108?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"parischeng"},"url":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/author\/parischeng\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2926,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2922\/revisions\/2926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riverchain.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}