Ozean Partners with ola Labs to Finance Affordable Housing Development in Southeast Asia — a $25B Opportunity

Ozean, the blockchain for Real World Asset (RWA) yield being launched by Clearpool, has announced a partnership with ola Labs, a DeFi lending protocol and Y Combinator alumnus focused on asset-backed private credit business loans. This collaboration aims to explore the integration of ola Labs’ exclusive access to TradFi private credit loan programs within Ozean’s Port, offering DeFi users access to a new and attractive source of yield in the underserved Southeast Asian market.

ola Labs: Pioneering Asset-Backed Private Credit

ola (Spanish for “wave”) Labs is introducing an innovative corporate treasury product featuring a dual market (on/off-chain) liquidity mechanism allowing for 24/7 redemption. The DeFi protocol allows a token holder access to a diversified pool of asset-backed private credit loans curated for ola token holders. In addition to launching its own bespoke TradFi loan programs, ola partners with TradFi private credit lenders and has exclusive access to their web3 distribution. ola Labs facilitates the transaction by allowing on-chain capital to lend stablecoin directly to a borrowing entity (3rd party SPV), which is pooled with loans and, in return, receives an ola token.

A key aspect of ola Labs’s go-to-market strategy involves exclusive access to ola Labs co-founders’ FinTech lending business called uwi (Y Combinator S22), which issues Express Building loans, the only alternative form of construction financing for developers to build pre-sold affordable housing in Southeast Asia. Addressing a significant market need, uwi’s Express Building program targets the affordable housing developer market, which has built an estimated $25B in all-cash in Indonesia and the Philippines. Since issuing its first loan in December 2022, uwi’s Express Building loan program has issued ~600 loans incurring 0% defaults.

“Our focus at ola Labs is to provide innovative asset-backed private credit financing solutions that unlock growth in vital sectors like affordable housing. We believe that by potentially bringing uwi’s real estate construction financing opportunities under the ola token to Ozean, we can tap into the burgeoning DeFi ecosystem and offer a unique asset class to a wider range of investors seeking uncorrelated and asset-backed opportunities,” said Joseph Tan, CEO & Co-founder of ola Labs.

Ozean: Building the Infrastructure for RWA Integration

Ozean is designed to integrate RWAs into DeFi in a compliant and user-friendly manner. Built on the OP Stack as part of Optimism’s Superchain, Ozean aims to revolutionize DeFi by addressing the limited capture of base RWA yield by end-users and the fragmented nature of RWA protocols. Ozean provides essential infrastructure for blockchain financial markets, enabling users to earn native yield on stablecoins. Through its WaveMaker program, Ozean offers an end-to-end solution for tokenizing RWAs, fostering an ecosystem of issuers, investors, and service providers. Ozean is being launched by Clearpool, which has originated over $750 million of tokenized credit to leading institutional borrowers, including the Wall Street giant Jane Street. Clearpool is backed by top-tier investors including Sequoia Capital, HashKey Capital, Arrington and Wintermute.

“The partnership with ola Labs helps to address a significant real-world financing gap, aligns perfectly with Ozean’s mission to bring diverse, high-quality RWAs on-chain,” said Jakob Kronbichler, CEO & Co-founder of Ozean.

Expanding RWA Offerings on Port with Real Estate Financing

This collaboration between Ozean and ola Labs sets the stage for potentially introducing real estate construction financing as a new asset class on Ozean’s Port. By exploring the integration of ola Labs’ access to TradFi private credit loan programs, Ozean aims to provide its users with unique, asset-backed opportunities. This partnership is a step towards expanding the variety of RWAs available within the Ozean ecosystem and bridging the gap between traditional finance and DeFi.