YouTrip, a digital financial services platform and aspiring neobank, has raised US$ 30 million in Series A funding, according to a company statement.
YouTrip is a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that launched in Singapore in 2018 and subsequently in Thailand in partnership with Kasikornbank in 2019. YouTrip has largely focused on international payments and transfers, especially for travelers, but wants to add new services and features while expanding across Southeast Asia. The new capital will be used to boost its suite of payment products, in particular entering the adjacent B2B payments space.
The new funding was provided by returning investors and other, unamed Fintech investors. In total, the company has now raised over US$60 million since its launch.
YouTrip’s CEO and co-founder Caecilia Chu, said they have transformed tremendously as a company since their last funding round:
“From a mobile travel wallet, we have grown to establish a strong foothold in new territories such as overseas online spending to meet the extraordinary shifts in consumer behaviours. We believe there is untapped potential in cross-border payments, and our market-leading position in this space puts us in a good place to serve more of our users’ payment needs – from travellers, to online shoppers, and now, businesses.”
In total, YouTrip reports that it has processed over US$800 million in card spend globally, with almost 20 million transactions and over 1.5 million app downloads. YouTrip’s transaction volume is said to have rebounded to pre-COVID levels, driven by strong traction in cross-border e-commerce transactions and the return of travel spending.
YouTrip believes the B2B payments ecosystem is its next strategic step forward. The company states that this industry will be worth US$150 trillion by 2022.
YouTrip’s forthcoming corporate credit card, YouBiz, seeks to offer a best-in-class multi-currency payment experience.
Arthur Mak, YouTrip’s Co-founder said they are excited about the B2B payments opportunity:
“It is a segment with a deep market, as companies increasingly operate in a distributed and borderless manner and we expect their cross-border payment needs to go up. By incorporating our company’s core strengths of offering the best exchange rates and an extremely easy to use interface into YouBiz, we help businesses save time and cost, so that they can focus their energy and efforts in finding growth.”
YouBiz will be rolled out in Singapore in the first quarter of 2022, and with plans to bring it to five other Southeast Asia countries in the next twelve months.