Collateral is a powerful enabler of credit. But for lower-to-middle income families, mom and pop shop owners, contract workers, and many other SMEs, ​​pledging assets to secure a line of credit is not an option. This has led to reliance on unsecured lending options, which, while a viable option for some, has not been enough to solve the persistent MSME credit gap. There remain too few viable pathways into accessible and affordable secured credit for most of the population. 

OneLot, Accion Ventures’ latest investment in the Philippines, is trying to change that — one used car at a time. Vehicles, new and used, are among the most valuable assets owned by many individuals or small business owners. Yet while new cars are relatively straightforward to underwrite, used vehicles are far less so due to the industry’s opacity. And because used cars dominate the market, this opacity locks away enormous unrealized value. OneLot’s mission is to bring credit access to that market and unlock that value for drivers, dealers, and lenders alike. 

We are thrilled to welcome OneLot into the Accion Ventures portfolio and partner with founders Julian, Tommy, and Subramaniam, as they reshape asset-backed lending in the Philippines. The company is starting where the system is most constrained: the used car dealer, typically a family-run business in an informal segment that has long been underserved by traditional finance. By building proprietary pricing and underwriting models for dealers and their used vehicles, OneLot is formalizing a market that has remained opaque for decades. Over time, the platform is designed to extend beyond dealers to support ride-hailing drivers, fleet operators, and ultimately, everyday consumers. 

Proprietary credit models and tailored products for underserved used car dealers

Unlike in other industries, inventory financing is largely unavailable to used car dealers. Secondhand vehicles are hard to price and underwrite, particularly in the Philippines, where market data is sparse and fragmented. Most used car dealers operate like many traditional micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines: family run, highly analog, and informal, with little separation between personal and business finances. The result is limited access to working capital, a critical constraint for them as they operate and try to scale.  

To serve this market, OneLot built its own proprietary underwriting infrastructure. Given that dealers have limited formal data available (rarely are they even formally incorporated), the company developed a dealer-specific underwriting model anchored directly to vehicle inventory. In parallel, they built a used car pricing platform powered by machine learning that utilizes external and internal d​​ata sources that delivers a specific valuation per used car. Finally, given the fluid nature of buying and selling cars, OneLot designed the financing product to be customized for the unpredictable business of the dealers. With the proprietary, in-house systems and the tailored product, OneLot is able to extend financing to a historically unserved segment of the Philippine market. 

Developing the asset-backed lending model in the Philippines

The MSME credit gap in the Philippines is estimated to be around $221B and access to formal credit remains limited. The 2025 Global Findex reports that only 12 percent of Filipinos have ever had access to a formal loan. Despite the expansion of the country’s banking sector, the presence of large non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), and the rise of digital SME lenders, like our portfolio companies First Circle and Advance, the financing gap remains substantial.  

At Accion Ventures, we have backed several innovative, digital MSME lenders. We were keen to find alternative approaches to the credit challenge by expanding beyond companies focused on unsecured lending. Globally, we’ve seen companies like Creditas, backed by Accion’s cousin fund Quona Capital, successfully scale secured lending. Against this backdrop, we were excited by OneLot’s approach. Asset-backed lending remains nascent in the Philippines, yet the potential is significant. While OneLot is beginning with used vehicles, the platform is designed to expand into additional verticals as the team deepens its secured lending capabilities.  

Seasoned founders with a complementary skillset 

Julian was introduced by Kaya Founders, a Philippine early-stage fund that had re-invested in the founding team after backing them in their previous startup. Having worked together before, the team entered OneLot with a clear understanding of their operating chemistry and hard-earned lessons from their previous venture. Just as important, they brought truly complementary skill sets. Julian’s exposure to ​     ​car dealerships in Germany through his family business gave him firsthand insight into how dealers rely on embedded financing partners. Tommy contributes deep local market knowledge, network access, and data expertise. Subramaniam anchors the technical and product development function. Together, the team combines domain familiarity, local execution strength, and technical depth in a rare combination at this stage. 

The road ahead for our latest Philippine investment 

In just eighteen months, OneLot has issued more than $7 million in loans and now serves over 150 dealers on its platform. The majority are small and medium-sized businesses, managing inventories of fewer than 25 ​​vehicles. As the platform scales, OneLot plans to layer in additional tools, such as inventory management software, alongside auxiliary services including insurance and vehicle registration support, further embedding itself in the daily operations of used-car dealers. Together, these capabilities position the company not just as a lender but also as a key partner to used car dealers in the Philippines, ultimately helping more stakeholders unlock unrealized value from their used cars. 

We are excited to work with the founders, our co-investors, and the entire OneLot team as they solve a critical funding gap for this informal segment, unlock value for multiple stakeholders, and push the boundaries of asset-backed lending in the Philippines.