This week's FinTech Update

by Mark Mackenzie

Few Japanese fintechs have made an impact across the SE Asian region. One of the exceptions is digital payments processor Opn, formerly Synqa, who announced this week they have raised $120m in a Series C+ round, becoming a unicorn in Japan. The startup raised funds from the venture capital arm of the government-backed Japan Investment Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and tech investor Mars Growth Capital.

Opn, which has its registered headquarters in Tokyo and operational headquarters in Bangkok, said it will use the funds to expand its product line-up and push further into Southeast Asia as it rides the growth of digital payments in the region. The company is also targeting Japan, where digital transformation is a buzzword in government circles and companies are looking for help in processing cross-border payments.

“As we approach 10 years since we started as a payment gateway company, and now customized fintech solutions to help businesses grow, we have continued to obsess over how to make payment ever more seamless for both businesses and the people they serve,” said Jun Hasegawa, the company’s founder and CEO. “Through our fintech solutions, we are realizing our vision of enabling access to the digital economy for everyone.”

Founded in 2013, Opn specializes in online payments and blockchain technology for FinTech applications. It works in tandem with its payment infrastructure sister company Omise, a Thailand-based firm which offers one-stop online payment solutions. 

Staying in the payments space, Apis Growth Fund II, the private equity fund managed by Apis Partners, a UK-based asset manager that supports growth stage financial services and financial infrastructure businesses, announced this week that it had invested $15m in Singapore based DT One, the B2B digital micropayments platform supporting cross-border transfers of mobile top-ups, data bundles, gaming pins and gift cards.

DT One was founded over 15 years ago with the aim of providing mobile carriers with the infrastructure and services they needed to help migrant workers and diaspora communities stay in touch with family and friends back home. Today, DT One says it’s customers use its platform to transact cross-border micropayments in the form of airtime and data bundle top-ups to billions of prepaid phones in more than 160 countries, and it allows mobile users to redeem or purchase over 9,000 digital content and gift card products.

More than 1,000 enterprise customers already use DT One's solutions, and annual transaction volumes have continued to double yearly. Recently, the company has also successfully expanded its offering, leveraging its platform to enable small‐value payments within the creator economy. Supported by the funding from Apis Growth Fund II, DT One plans to further expand its global footprint by continuing its organic expansion, invest further into product development and commercial excellence, and pursue new acquisitions and partnerships. 

In Manila, Grab’s SEC-licensed lending arm known as Grab Financial Services Philippines, announced on Wednesday that it has launched its new loan service programme for its merchant partners known as Quick Cash. Quick Cash promises fast disbursal and an easy application process, with the allure that merchants can easily acquire a business loan that is tailored to their current needs, with no collateral required. Credit for this segment is notoriously difficult to underwrite, especially in the Philippines where lack of national ID and credit history data makes the process very labour intensive - and expensive. 

Grab claims that by using data acquired from merchants such as their earnings to deduce the best loan amount, the platform is able to personalise loans for each business to ensure they are able to afford their loan safely. Additionally, daily and automatic micro-deduction are also put in place by the programme to help make repayments more convenient. Grab will be hoping that they can create some profitable segments for their fintech platform. 

Finally, Singapore based RockFlow, a self-proclamed ‘one-stop investment platform’, has announced the completion of a $10m angel round of funding from Bluerun Ventures and other VC firms. The financing is mainly for the company to expand the team and develop AI-driven products. Founded in July 2021, the company is committed to becoming “the Robinhood of Asia, providing a global one-stop investment service for Gen Z” according to founder Vakee Lai.

"The new generation will have a strong demand for investment and financing when they grow up, but the investment products in the market now are still very traditional and complex, which has become an obstacle for those young people to participate in," commented one of the investors. Lai says the aim of RockFlow is to make investing easy and fun for first-time investors. Powered by artificial intelligence technology, RockFlow aims to provide robo-advisors with portfolios tailored to each individual's risk profile and investment goals.