Asia is a major player in the FinTech startup industry. For example, Digital Information World reports that China’s FinTech have attracted $42 billion in investments with 166 startups. What makes it more impressive is also the fact that China is home to the most valuable FinTech startup in the world: Ant Group.
East Asia isn’t the sole region producing Fintech startups. According to Mastercard, Southeast Asia and Indonesia have fast-growing Internet economies.
Here, will explore the top 10 Asian FinTech startups you need to have on your radar.
1) Ant Group
Ant Group, previously known as Ant Financial and Alipay, is the financial arm of internet giant Alibaba.
The company serves more than 730 million monthly users from its array of financial services: payment, fund transfer, money-market funds, and providing loans to small businesses and consumers where they would otherwise unable to obtain from traditional banks.
Yu’e Bao money-market fund is the largest in the world, with over 588 million users from Alipay – representing one-third of China’s total population, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In Oct 2020, Ant Group entered the public equity market with the world’s largest IPO of $313 billion valuation and raised $34.5 billion, making it the highest-valued FinTech company in the world.
2) Ping An Technology
Ping An Technology uses AI to develop specific financial platforms. This Chinese company’s platforms support financial services, smart cities, and real estate services.
One of the company’s main services is the Ping An Cloud platform. This Ping An Group subsidiary offers diverse tools to its clients. Users can access useful products like Software as a Service (SaaS).
Ping An Technology’s solutions help organisations better leverage technology.
The company is listed at Hong Kong stock exchange with a market capitalisation of $201 billion as of writing.
3) Dr Wealth
Dr Wealth is a leading financial education company based in Singapore. Founded by Alvin Chow, with the vision to help retail investors to make better financial decisions.
In early 2020, they launched a stock screener, analysis, and portfolio management platform that provides stock data to investors from various stock exchanges located across Asian regions, such as Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), Australia Stock Exchange (ASX), and Hong Kong Exchanges (HKSE).
The company also offers various investment courses, ranging from value investing, cryptocurrency, to an early retirement masterclass. They boast their educators as people who ‘put their money where their mouth is.’
To date, Dr Wealth has raised $640,000 in seed funding.
4) Grab Pay
Grab Pay is a wireless payment service created by Grab, a multinational ride-hailing company headquartered in Singapore. The company was cofounded by Anthony Tan and Tan Hooi Ling, classmates during their Harvard MBA years.
After the rapid success with their ride-hailing business, the company has expanded into finance and banking space. Grab Pay allows users to make payments instore, car rides, deliveries and transfers as well as purchasing travel insurance and various investment products.
In 2019, Grab partnered with Singapore telecommunication company Singtel for a digital banking licence in Singapore.
Grab is currently valued at $14.3 billion after raising $200 million led by a South Korean private equity firm.
5) Razer Pay
“Razer is the leading example of a non-finance startup jumping into the payments industry by utilizing its brand affinity and reach through its gaming peripherals with the millennials,” according to Jack Goldman, from ForexToStocks.
Their Malaysian e-wallet service, Razer Pay, lets consumers go cashless. Razer Pay offers payment access to the most popular retail establishments in Malaysia and Singapore. With the Razer Pay app, users can pay and transfer money from their mobile.
Razer Pay offers online and offline merchant services that allow for more efficient transactions.
6) Folio
Folio is a Japanese investment service that helps both beginners and seasoned investors. Folio offers diverse investment options to meet everyone’s needs. For example, users can choose to invest in their favourite themes like “Restaurant Chains” or “Drones.”
Investors can also use the platform to take a more automated route. The Folio Robo Pro is an intelligent Robo-advisor that can manage their investments.
7) Viva Republica
Viva Republica is a South Korea FinTech founded in 2013. The startup aims to become a one-stop App to serve all South Korean financial needs. The company is said to be valued at $2.6 Billion and raised a total of US $530 million to date from prominent investors like Aspex Management and Sequoia Capital China.
Its mobile App, Toss, is a leading P2P money transfer service platform. Since its launch in 2015, the mobile App has achieved an impressive growth of 49 million downloads, 17 million registered users, and over USD 10 billion transaction. They were also rated as the Google Play Store “App of the Year” in 2016.
8) PolicyBazaar
PolicyBazaar, which is based in India, is the world’s largest online insurance aggregator. Cofounded by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal, and Avaneesh Nirjar with the aim to promote transparency to the insurance sector – where insurance policies were normally sold through agents.
With their online comparison platform, users have the access to information which allows them to make better informed decisions.
The company works with more than 50 insurers to offer various types of insurance. Some of PolicyBazaar’s partners include Aviva and Liberty General Insurance.
To date, the Fintech is valued at $1.5 billion and has raised $364 million since its inception.
9) HelloGold
HelloGold is a Malaysian company that helps individual investors protect their wealth with gold savings. Its Shariah compliant technology lets users track gold prices in real-time. With HelloGold, investors can buy, save, and sell this precious metal.
The company has collaborated with organisations across Malaysia and Thailand to offer a superior experience. Some of these organizations include Amanie Advisors and Aeon Credit Service.
According to Deal Street Asia, HelloGold raised $8 million via ICO valuing the company at $12 million from Series A.
10) Tiger Brokers
Tiger Brokers is an online brokerage that caters to Chinese investors. It helps them invest in overseas securities . With Tiger Brokers, Chinese investors can get their shares of State Street Corporation or other high-paying dividend stocks. Without Tiger Brokers, they may not have access to these investments.
Since then Tiger Brokers have expanded to South East Asia region and United States. The company serves more than 40 million loyal users. Investors can open an online account with no minimum deposit.
It was valued at $1.06 billion after an $80-million Series C round. This was followed by a succesful IPO in March 2019 on the NASDAQ. Its current market cap is USD 665 million.
Summary
The above are some of the fastest growing FinTech companies you should be aware of. They are in the business of revolutionising the way we deal with finances, either through end-users or a business intermediary.
Source: enterprise times
