Beacon Venture Capital, the corporate venturing arm of banking group Kasikornbank, has backed a $32.5m series A round for Singapore-based online business banking platform Aspire, e27.co reported yesterday.
The deal, originally announced in August 2019, also includes MassMutual Ventures Southeast Capital – a venture capital fund managed by insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life – as well as ArcLabs, Hummingbird Ventures, Picus Capital and Y Combinator.
Aspire has created a mobile app where small and medium-sized enterprises can open business banking accounts and source small, instant-access loans of up to $70,000 for general expenses.
The series A capital has been assigned for strengthening Aspire’s business in Southeast Asia, including in Thailand, where it plans to offer digital banking services in collaboration with Kasikornbank.
Aspire also has plans for a business credit card which would potentially launch by the end of 2019. The funding follows a $9m round in July 2018 that included Y Combinator, Insignia Ventures Partners, Mark 2 Capital and Hummingbird Ventures.