Chocolate Finance Captures Idle SME Cash with New Business Account

Walter de Oude, CEO and founder of Chocolate Finance

For many small businesses, idle cash is a quiet drag on the balance sheet. Money set aside for payroll, rent, suppliers or tax often sits in a corporate bank account earning little, because owners cannot afford to lock it away for months in search of a better return.

Chocolate Finance is now trying to turn that gap into its next growth line.

Chocolate Business is not a corporate bank account and not a fixed deposit. It is structured as a cash managed account, meaning customer funds are placed into investment products with the aim of generating returns. That distinction matters: unlike a bank deposit, returns are not guaranteed, and capital can be exposed to investment risk. But unlike a fixed deposit, businesses are not tied to a set tenure.

The launch comes two years after Chocolate Finance introduced its consumer platform. Since then, the company says it has grown to about US$1.23 billion in assets under management and more than 150,000 customers.

The SME cash problem

The pitch is simple: businesses need liquidity, but liquidity often earns very little.

Chocolate Finance cited an industry survey estimating that SMEs in Singapore lose around US$616 million in potential interest each year by leaving idle cash in low-yield accounts. The same survey found that 45 per cent of SMEs identified liquidity as a priority.

That tension is familiar across Southeast Asia. Smaller companies often run on uneven cash cycles, waiting for client payments while still having to meet monthly payroll and supplier bills. In markets such as Singapore, where wage, rental and financing costs remain high, the ability to earn even modest incremental returns on unused working capital can make a difference.

At the same time, many SMEs lack the treasury teams that larger companies use to move surplus cash between money-market funds, short-term instruments and deposits. For a founder or finance manager handling day-to-day operations, the default option is often the easiest one: leave the cash in the bank.

Walter de Oude, Founder and CEO of Chocolate Finance, framed the product around that pain point. “Businesses need their cash available for payroll, suppliers and whatever comes next, but there’s no reason it should sit around earning next to nothing in the meantime,” he said.

How Chocolate Business works

Chocolate Business currently offers 1.5 per cent per annum on the first SGD300,000 (US$231,000), supported by the company’s Chocolate Top-Up Programme during a qualifying period. Amounts above that can earn up to 1.5 per cent per annum.

Businesses can fund their accounts through FAST transfers or PayNow. There is no minimum or maximum deposit requirement, according to the company. Withdrawals can be requested at any time, with no fixed tenure, withdrawal charges or penalties, although funds typically take one to two business days to arrive depending on the amount.

Business owners can monitor their balances and returns through a dedicated Chocolate Business app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Chocolate Finance also says it charges no upfront fees. Instead, it makes money only after meeting its target return. This model is designed to align the company’s incentives with customers, though the final outcome for users still depends on market conditions and the performance of the underlying cash management strategy.

The company is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and operates under Chocfin Pte Ltd. It is backed by Peak XV Partners, Prosus, Saison Capital and GFC.

Why now?

The move into business accounts is a natural extension for Chocolate Finance, but it also comes at a time when cash management is becoming more visible in Southeast Asia’s startup and SME ecosystem.

During the low-rate years, many companies gave little thought to short-term cash returns. That changed as global interest rates rose and founders began looking more closely at runway, treasury discipline and capital efficiency. Even as rate cycles shift, the habit of asking whether idle cash is being used properly is likely to stay.

Singapore is a particularly suitable testbed. The city-state has a high concentration of SMEs, a sophisticated financial infrastructure, broad use of PayNow and FAST, and a regulatory environment that has allowed digital wealth and cash management platforms to grow. For startups and SMEs operating across the region, Singapore often serves as both headquarters and treasury hub.

Still, Chocolate will need to tread carefully. Business owners are generally more conservative with operational cash than consumers are with spare savings. The money in a corporate account may be needed for salaries or urgent supplier payments, which leaves little room for confusion over risk, redemption timing or the difference between a managed account and a bank deposit.

That education challenge is likely to shape how quickly products such as Chocolate Business gain traction.

A crowded financial services layer

Chocolate Finance is not entering an empty market. Last year, Aspire, an all-in-one finance platform in Singapore, launched a new investment product designed to give SMEs institutional-grade returns on idle business funds without sacrificing liquidity or accessibility.

The competition will also come from incumbent banks, which still own the primary corporate account relationship and can bundle deposits with payments, lending and trade services.

It also sits adjacent to digital wealth and cash management players such as StashAway, Syfe and Endowus, which have helped popularise cash management products among retail users. Globally, business finance platforms such as Brex, Mercury, Wise Business and Revolut Business have shown how startups can build operating accounts and treasury tools around SMEs and technology companies, though their models and regulatory structures vary by market.

Chocolate’s challenge is therefore not only to offer a better return, but to become trusted enough to hold business operating cash. That is a higher bar than attracting consumer deposits for spare funds.

Beyond consumer finance

For Chocolate Finance, the launch signals a shift from a consumer-facing proposition into a broader cash management platform. If the product works, it could open up a larger pool of assets: SMEs typically hold more cash per account than individuals, and their balances can be more stable when tied to business operations.

But the business segment is also less forgiving. A delayed withdrawal or misunderstood product feature can have consequences beyond user convenience. For SMEs, cash flow is survival.

The larger question is whether Singapore’s SMEs are ready to treat idle cash as something that should be actively managed rather than simply parked. Chocolate Finance is betting that the answer is yes, and that businesses, like consumers, are beginning to expect more from the money sitting still.

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