Tag: FIntech

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – ASEAN fintech company BigPay, which is under AirAsia, has appointed Lion & Lion as its digital and social media marketing partner for its Malaysia and Singapore markets. The agency said that the new partnership strengthens its portfolio in the financial services industry and highlights its strong growth in the region. 

Lion & Lion has developed an integrated creative solution that utilises social media in “bold new ways” to grow BigPay’s digital presence and increase the brand’s share of voice among millennials in the space of financial technology. Building on the theme of BigPay giving users better control of their finances, the campaign will utilise a combination of interactive content developed specifically for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as partnerships with influencers and creators. 

Lion & Lion said the overall goal is to educate millennials on financial literacy, while also positioning the BigPay brand as a trusted partner that understands the lifestyle needs and financial habits of their target audience.

Ham Maghazeh, director of social media at Lion & Lion, shared that their insights have shown that millennials and Generation Z find financial topics boring or difficult to understand, which brings the agency to craft an approach that uses fun and relatable online pop culture references such as memes, entertainment and music in order to resonate with the said target audience. 

“Essentially we are turning fintech into ‘funtech’ in order to bridge the gap between millennials and financial literacy. We then tie this back to BigPay, which as a financial platform, allows users the power to control their spending wisely,” says Maghazeh. 

Cheelip Ong, regional chief creative officer of Lion and Lion, added “We are excited to enter 2022 with BigPay as our new client. As a fintech company that is committed to democratising financial literacy, BigPay has an amazingly strong product with a multitude of offerings. We are excited to help BigPay drive their product narrative to resonate to a younger audience segment and grow their user base, while building their brand presence in the region with our creative and digital expertise.”

Chris Manguera, BigPay’s CMO said that as a fintech brand, they believe that they have a role to actively educate and advocate financial literacy.

“On top of that, we want our presence to be as fun as our blue card while still keeping true to our mission and vision. Lion & Lion stood out with their creative output and it was highly aligned with the bold direction we’re headed towards, which is to make fintech, ‘funtech’,” added Manguera. 

In August 2021, BigPay secured US$100m in funding to establish itself as a ‘challenger bank’ in SEA.

Manila, Philippines – Local fintech and online payments company PayMongo has secured US$31m in funding from their series B funding, which they aim to serve local SMEs more. Said investment round participants include Justin Mateen’s JAM Fund, Philippine VC firms ICCP-SBI Venture Partners and Lisa Gokongwei’s Kaya Founders, together with existing investors Global Founders Capital and SOMA Capital. 

In addition, founders of top European fintech unicorns and startups Qonto, Viva Wallet, Billie and Scalable joined the investment round. This then brings the company’s total funding to just under US$46m, following a US$12m Series A round in 2020 and a US$2.7m seed round in 2019.

Through the funding, PayMongo will continue to scale its operations by strengthening its current payments infrastructure and venturing into more financial services. This involves building products such as disbursements, capital lending, ‘buy now, pay later’, subscriptions and recurring payments, among many others. 

It will likewise explore how the Philippines can serve as a springboard for the digital transformation of financial services in other emerging markets.

For Francis Plaza, CEO and co-founder at PayMongo, the investment is a testament to their growth and the continued growth of their merchants. He added that with this Series B, they will invest further in their merchants’ successes by giving them more means to move money seamlessly online.

“While payment acceptance is crucial, it is just one of the many services that entrepreneurs need to build a successful online business. Our goal is to create a one-stop-shop for all these financial needs in the broader Southeast Asian region, starting with the Philippines,” he said.

Malaysia – Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the payments network and central infrastructure for financial markets, has launched a three-month programme, aimed at supporting and advancing high potential fintech’s capabilities to further accelerate e-payments adoption in the country. 

Called the ‘FinTech ePayment Accelerator Programme’, the initiative is in line with PayNet’s mission to be a trusted enabler of inclusive and collaborative financial ecosystems. Moreover, this is in collaboration with the Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM), which features briefing sessions, and PayNet’s products will be held for interested fintech.

The new programme focuses on the ideas and solutions that can address fintech problems, including the adoption of e-payments, which addresses the conversion of the unbanked and underbanked population towards e-payments utilisation, as well as the improvement to existing products, which should determine specific target groups and how can fintech platforms innovate enhancements for their existing retail products to be more appealing and effective for customer use.

And lastly, the introduction of new business solutions, which should tackle the new and innovative use cases should be introduced to ensure it offers an inclusive financial ecosystem and address the e-payment needs of new markets.

According to PayNet, applicants for the programme will be shortlisted based on the ideas and solutions submitted, and these shortlisted applicants will advance to a pitching session in June 2022, where they will present to a panel of judges on why their ideas should progress to a proof-of-concept (‘POC’). Successful fintech platforms will be awarded a grant of up to RM500,000 to support the execution of the POC and will have the opportunity to work with PayNet’s extensive ecosystem of banks, e-wallets, and third party acquirers.

Peter Schiesser, PayNet’s group CEO, shared that the programme is timely and relevant as part of their efforts to develop a future-ready digital payments infrastructure and help Malaysia transition towards a digital economy. 

“I urge potential fintech [platforms] to seize this opportunity to showcase their solutions and partake in expanding the country’s digital ecosystem and advancing financial inclusion,” said Schiesser.

The applications for the ‘FinTech ePayment Accelerator Programme 2022’ is open until 30 April 2022 and can be submitted online at PayNet’s website. Submissions should consist of a pitch deck or a video presentation addressing the problem statement and include an introduction of the team.

Mumbai, India – Global payments network EMQ has launched its real-time cross-border payments across South Asia, including direct access to Nepal and India’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), with Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and additional markets in the pipeline.

The enhanced payment capabilities to Nepal and India provide a more transparent and cost-efficient payments solution for its customers in the region, while enabling them to capture new opportunities across the emerging markets. Moreover, customers can now send a maximum of INR500,000, which has increased from INR200,000, directly into local banks in real-time under IMPS and higher amounts via same-day fund transfers to India through a single EMQ Connect API integration.

Meanwhile, customers in Nepal will also have direct access to real-time bank transfers of up to NPR1m with additional same-day payment options available in the country. These extended service offerings enable enterprises to focus on growing their business without the need to manage complex network infrastructure.

Steven Liu, EMQ’s global head of networks and expansion, shared that they will continue to expand their network with more global market touchpoints across the fastest growing economic corridors.

EMQ said that it continues to expand its product suite with real-time payments capabilities across Europe (Sepa Zone), Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Singapore, India, and Indonesia, as well as Nepal, and 19 markets in Africa, amongst many others, with expansion underway in the USA, Canada, and Latin America.

“Our enhanced coverage across Nepal and India further complement our efforts to offer differentiated value propositions with greater speed, agility and flexibility in both consumer and business payments that meet the evolving business models,” said Liu.

Singapore – Funding Societies, SME digital financing platform in SEA, which goes by Modalku in Indonesia, has raised US$144m in an oversubscribed Series C+ equity round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2; with new investors, notably Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Asia-based global investor EDBI, Indies Capital, K3 Ventures, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures. 

The company has also received US$150m in debt lines from institutional lenders across Europe, the United States, and Asia, some of which have been drawn down since 2021. This comes on the back of its US$45 million Series C raised between 2020 and 2021.

The company believes that the funds solidify Funding Societies’ position as a market leader in digital financing, and propels its expense management, and B2B payments services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Southeast Asia. 

Since 2019, Funding Societies has expanded its suite of financial services beyond lending and plans to bring its operations to more locations in Southeast Asia within the next 12 months.

In October, the company has also announced that it has raised US$18m in debt for funding led by a trio syndicate of financial institutions, including lending company Helicap Investments.

Funding Societies aims to solve MSMEs’ key pain points for growth, such as the challenge in obtaining business loans from traditional financial institutions due to a lack of a credit track record or collaterals to pledge. Funding Societies offers microloans from US$500 up to US$1.5m which can be disbursed within 24 hours. 

Co-founder and Group CEO, Kelvin Teo, shared that a common misconception is that the company competes with banks. 

“The reality is we ‘compete’ with savings, friends and families, and personal credit cards. There is a huge unsecured financing gap because it takes patience and focus, or you risk losing a lot of money. Having proven our AI-led credit capabilities in an unprecedented financial crisis, we look to serve SMEs even better with neo banking and deeper regional presence in Southeast Asia,” said Teo.

According to the company, it has disbursed, to date, over US$2b in business financing to MSMEs in the SEA region. 

The fintech is now licensed and registered in four countries across the region – Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and operating in Vietnam.

Jakarta, Indonesia – As the average number of users on the platform balloon to over 30m every month, local digital wallet service DANA has introduced several updates on its ‘send money’ feature last January this year, which is noted as one of the most popular services used by the users.

Its first update is its saving feature, where users can enjoy up to 10 free transfers with Send Money, and will be only start being charged by the eleventh onwards at Rp2,500. Said update is also a form of DANA’s compliance and support for the payment system infrastructure provided by Bank Indonesia through BI-Fast.

Meanwhile, another feature called ‘monitor transfer process’ is also introduced where DANA users can now easily track, monitor, and directly trace their money transfer process. To facilitate the handling of each user’s digital transactions including the send money feature, DANA has also added a Resolution Centre that can be accessed directly.

Lastly, in a future update, DANA is preparing a ‘Favorite’ column that can group the user’s preferred list of family names or close relatives. Thus, when the next remittance is sent, the user only needs to go to the ‘Favorite’ column and select the destination more quickly.

Rangga Wiseno, chief product officer at DANA, said, “The Send Money feature is a mainstay feature that has been trusted by loyal DANA users. To enrich the user experience, we are constantly updating this feature to keep it relevant to the preferences and needs of today’s users.”

Wisono also noted that their digital wallet has been a cost-effective money transfer option, thanks to the free transfer fees. She added that their users, who are dominated by Generation Z and millennials, will be able to save money and save money from this fee.

“The Send Money feature in DANA is the most popular feature among users as it provides convenience and security in transferring money, both to fellow users and other accounts. The conveniences offered include flexibility in using several choices of funding sources, such as DANA balances, debit cards, or credit cards, and sending them through various ways such as between users, chat, to links,” the company said in a press statement.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) was first introduced over 15 years ago in Europe, as a payment platform that allows shoppers to split their purchases into interest-free monthly deferred payments, usually by scanning an in-store QR code or upon checkout at a partner retailer’s website.

In recent years, BNPL has gained immense popularity amongst merchants and consumers in Asia, with its market share expected to more than double by 2024, according to the Global Payments Report 2021 by FIS-Worldpay. While BNPL is seen as a rising global movement, it is important to note that the use case and macro landscape across the regions vary significantly. 

Unlike established markets such as the United States, Australia and Europe, Asia is highly fragmented (eg. credit profile, religion, language, culture) with a large unbanked and underbanked population, especially in emerging markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam. For example, in Southeast Asia (SEA), only 27% of the overall 670 million population has bank accounts. This sizable gap in traditional banking penetration has resulted in at least 438 million unbanked or underbanked consumers, with limited access to basic financial services and subsequently, a thin credit profile. Consequently, retailers should partner with BNPL brands with robust risk assessment and credit profiling technology to minimise transaction rejects and fraud cases. 

SEA is also leading the charge in digital consumption, having added 60 million new digital consumers to the internet economy since the pandemic started. The massive digitisation that the region witnessed in 2020, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, saw SEA lead as a mobile-first consumer economy. 

Retailers partner BNPL providers to tap on the young and emerging digital consumers – shoppers who are mobile-first and digitally savvy and may be experiencing major life events such as getting their first job or house, getting married, and having their first child. It is estimated that by 2030, 75% of consumers in ASEAN will be under the age of 30.

Physical shopping in SEA remains a social activity for many, and shoppers still prefer to see and touch products before making the commitment to purchase. This is different from other developed markets in Europe or the US where e-commerce is widely adopted because of good public infrastructure (e.g. cheap broadband, good last-mile delivery to every home). 

For the shoppers in SEA, they value omnichannel retail shopper experience, one that allows them to shop and purchase seamlessly across online and offline channels. What this means for retailers and BNPL players in this region is that the physical store experience is critical when it comes to increasing in-store conversion, basket size, and the overall brand and shopping experience.

Merchants who have adopted BNPL in their business have seen benefits including improved sales, traffic, and conversions. With BNPL, merchants can also unlock a new segment of shoppers and understand their shopping behaviours. 

BNPL V2.0

As BNPL matures in Asia, it will evolve from its current basic model of interest-free monthly payments to further enable merchants. We’ve seen examples of new products and services launched, for example, co-branded cards, savings accounts, investment products, and personal finance management.

Traditional banks and even digibanks are also developing and launching their own BNPL offerings. Potential evolution pathways of BNPL and features include:

1. Greater industry adoption

With wider customer adoption and demand for payment choice and flexibility, other retail categories beyond fashion, lifestyle, and beauty categories are experimenting with BNPL. Travel and hospitality, food and beverage, and luxury and premium retail are some examples. 

2. Open-loop payment services 

Open-loop is a payment method that can be used anywhere that brand of cards or e-wallets is accepted. As BNPL gains momentum globally, BNPL players are introducing co-branded credit cards and e-wallets with payment providers to create an open-loop system that is not restricted to signed merchants. This will greatly accelerate BNPL acceptance across retailers who for example, already accept payments for example, via Visa or Mastercard. BNPL brands also partner with payment service providers, web builders, e-commerce enablers to provide integration support for merchants and accelerate the wider acceptance and integration of BNPL solutions. 

3. Social commerce 

SEA is expected to lead the biggest market for social commerce, especially given how a large chunk of its population is entering its prime of technology adoption. Social commerce (78%) has become the second most preferred shopping channel in the region, second only to e-commerce platforms (91%). 

In 2020, clothes, apparel, and accessories continue to lead social shopping (71%), followed by health and beauty (59%), and electronics and appliances (53%). A large majority of Gen Z and millennials are leveraging social platforms not just to connect and explore, but also to shop and inspire. Increasingly, BNPL players are developing social commerce features to create highly targeted and personalised content recommendations to help promote organic engagements with merchants.

4. Customised merchant services 

One of the key strengths for BNPL players is a strong understanding of user demographics and shopping behaviour. Moving forward, BNPL players can invest in co-marketing and merchant-enabler features such as social CRM, loyalty programme, co-marketing, and concierge-like membership services, and this would be crucial in connecting with a community of young, aspirational, and digitally-savvy consumers.

5. Broader financial services 

Finally, BNPL players can also introduce offerings with longer tenures especially for high-value items like electronics and smartphones, and money management services such as savings accounts and investment options. As the BNPL industry continues to thrive in the coming years, the evolution of BNPL will further enable and empower merchants and create a strong and holistic ecosystem that drives engagement and value through every facet of the consumer’s purchase journey.

This article is written by Jeremy Wong, head of strategic partnerships at BNPL platform Atome.

The article is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series What’s NEXT. This features marketing leaders sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year. The series aims to equip marketers with actionable insights to future-ready their marketing strategies.

If you are a marketing leader and have insights that you’d like to share with regards to the upcoming trends and practices in marketing, please reach out to [email protected] for an opportunity to have your thought-leadership published on the platform.

Hanoi, Vietnam – Funverse Capital, the blockchain-focused venture capital fund formed by Funtap, one of the fastest-growing mobile game publishers in Vietnam, announced its first US$10m investment fund for blockchain-focused tech startups. Funverse Capital said the capital fund, which is backed by Funtap, will be directed towards blockchain-focused tech startups that are capable of driving profound impact on the fintech and gaming industry.

In addition to capital funding ticket size of up to US$1m for each qualified project, Funverse Capital offers mentorship and accelerator programs which take advantage of Funtap’s leading position in Vietnam’s mobile gaming market such as the company’s nearly a decade of market understanding and its 42 million worldwide customer network. 

Funverse Capital’s Managing Director Phillips Dao shared that in the Southeast Asia market, the capital fund is now seeking startups working on blockchain-enabled applications in GameFi, DeFi, and other potential projects. 

“A good product is not enough for the startup to win in today’s market. We recognize the opportunity for fledgling entrepreneurs to go ‘from vision to action’ and are willing to assist them turn their ideas into reality by sharing the strength of a worldwide business network, the mutual advantages of the online ecosystem, and growth lessons in the typical Internet market,” said Dao.

Meanwhile, Adam Bui, founder & CEO of Funtap Corp., commented, “Blockchain and NFT are great motivations for the coming generation of internet products and services. With our financial capital and other business resources committed via Funverse Capital, Funtap is now ready to contribute to the growth and acceleration of the emerging tech industry.” 

Vietnam’s blockchain market has been booming recently since the huge success of Sky Mavis, the tech startup behind the well-known monster-combat NFT game Axie infinity. 

California, USA – Fintech Nium has appointed Robin Gandhi, former vice president of payments at travel management and expense management firm TripActions, to be its new chief product officer.

In his new role, Gandhi will be responsible for defining and executing product strategy to expand leadership in existing markets and pursue new addressable markets for Nium. His role includes end-to-end product life cycle ownership, from product vision and strategy to oversight of technology development. Gandhi will work closely across Nium to ensure continued customer success and market share growth. 

During his stint at TripActions, Gandhi has led the product, engineering, design, and operations efforts for the firm’s Liquid offering, which is the next-generation payments and issuing platform that powers TripActions travel capabilities and end-to-end expense management product. 

Prior to this, Gandhi was at the Dutch payment platform Adyen, where he was the general manager of its global issuing offering, managing go-to-market and product, as well as running acquiring, product, data, and partnerships for North America. He has also worked with global card schemes, banks, financial institutions, and third-party partners that make omnichannel commerce possible for their merchants across the globe. 

Commenting on his appointment, Gandhi said, “I couldn’t be more excited to join Nium and continue delivering on its promise of simplifying the payments experience for businesses and powering frictionless commerce.”

Meanwhile, Prajit Nanu, Nium’s CEO and co-founder, said, “Robin is a deeply experienced leader with an incredible vision for product management and a wealth of industry knowledge across the payments ecosystem. He will be an essential part of our leadership team and I’m personally looking forward to seeing him take our product efforts to the next level.”