Singapore-based money transfer service Instarem has secured $5m in a series A round featuring investors including Global Founders Capital (GFC), the venture capital affiliate of e-commerce group Rocket Internet, TechCrunch reported today.
The round was led by Vertex Ventures, a VC subsidiary of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, and also included Fullerton Financial Holdings, an investment fund owned by Temasek. GFC was launched by Rocket Internet founders the Samwer brothers.
Instarem enables users to cheaply transfer money abroad into foreign currencies. The company has partnered mid-size banks that already trade in other currencies to handle the process and charges users a percentage of less than 1% of the sending amount.
The service is currently available in Australia, Hong Kong and Canada, and Instarem is currently seeking regulatory approval in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Luxembourg, from where it could take on the European market.
The company also hopes to enter smaller markets such as Nepal in the near future. It will also use the capital to launch new products specifically targeting users in South Asia that do not hold a bank account.
Instarem has not disclosed details about earlier funding rounds, though Techcrunch revealed that Global Founders Capital was a returning investor for the latest round.