Thailand-based financial services company Ascend Money secured $150m yesterday in a series C round that included conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group and Ant Group, the financial services affiliate of e-commerce group Alibaba.
Investment firm Bow Wave Capital Management filled out the round, which valued the company at $1.5bn, ostensibly making it Thailand’s first fintech unicorn.
Founded in 2013, Ascend Money operates online e-wallet payment service TrueMoney and microfinance provider Ascend Nano.
The pandemic has seen a marked increase in the service as the use of contactless payments came to the fore. TrueMoney’s user base now stands at 50 million, along with 88,000 TrueMoney agents.
Proceeds from the round will be used to scale the TrueMoney Wallet app and grow the company’s product line to include services such as digital investments, digital lending and remittances across Southeast Asia.
Ant Financial was reported in 2016 to be planning to purchase a 20% stake in Ascend Money, with the option to buy another 10% down the line.
Monsinee Nakapanant, Co-President of Ascend Money said: “As Southeast Asia’s homegrown fintech company, our mission is to enable everyone to access innovative financial services to better their lives.
“We have been blessed with overwhelming support from our shareholders and the new investor, with strong interest both in terms of capital investment and the quality of strategic partnership.
“At the same time, the unicorn achievement reinforces our ability to scale our purpose and mission. Looking ahead, we continue to strengthen collaboration with our stakeholders in the region to improve the lives of many through our platform.”
Nakapanant also told TechCrunch that company has its eye on a potential initial public offering but did not give any timeline.
