Invoice financing marketplace Incomlend is offering US$60mn in invoice financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space.

The programme, described by Incomlend as Asia’s first ESG-focused structured finance programme, is backed by Fasanara Capital, a UK alternative asset manager.

Incomlend says it will assess SMEs’ ESG credentials against standards such as the UN Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Those who also pass a financial assessment will be able to sell invoices on the platform.

“With improved cash flow, SMEs will also have the financial health and resources to make more and bolder ESG-centric changes within their organisation and supply chain,” Incomlend says in a statement.

“The changes include sourcing socially and environmentally responsible and adopting greener technology to reduce their carbon footprint. This can help SMEs foster greater trust among stakeholders and attract more customers.”

Singapore-headquartered Incomlend says it has financed over US$500mn in trades over 50 countries. It did not respond to questions from GTR about the ESG offering as of press time.

Fasanara, a quant fund, says its “unorthodox portfolio construction and unconventional investment strategy is a response to today’s transformational markets”.

In May the company announced it would lend S$50mn to SMEs globally, through Singapore peer-to-peer marketplace Validus.

“SMEs represent approximately 90% of companies globally and have tremendous collective potential to make a positive impact,” says Fasanara CEO Francesco Filia. “With Incomlend’s global reach and proven expertise, we are confident that they can maximise our investment and deliver working capital at scale to the right SMEs to drive meaningful change worldwide.”

Morgan Terigi, CEO of Incomlend, says he hopes the programme will “nurture more responsible companies globally and enable them to grow their business and profitability”.

“We hope these ESG-centric SMEs can become successful role models that their peers emulate, thereby encouraging more businesses to focus on ESG.”

The partnership between Fasanara and Incomlend is the latest in a series of ESG-linked lending programmes, including a global sustainable trade finance offering by Standard Chartered announced in March and an initiative launched by the International Finance Corporation and Citi to incentivise suppliers to hit sustainability metrics.