SBI leads $17.5m investment in Thailand’s Omise

Other participants included Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures and domestic companies such as Ascend Group, a spin-off of mobile network operator True. According to a statement, the capital will be used to expand the company's exposure in Japan as well as in Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2013, Omise is targeting growth in the e-commerce sector - primarily in Southeast Asia - with services that allow third-party merchants to accept payments online using a mobile accessible platform focused on security and fraud detection. Clients include more than 2,000 merchants, banks, an airline and a telecommunications group. Expansion efforts are currently progressing in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

The company received a $2.6 million Series A investment last year from Sinar, East Ventures and True. US accelerator 500 Startups also participated in this round through its Thailand-focused 500 TukTuks fund, which has recently achieved an $8.3 million fundraise.

Recent investment activity in Southeast Asia's online payments sector otherwise includes a $28 million commitment from Standard Chartered Private Equity and Goldman Sachs for Vietnamese e-wallet platform operator M_Service. This followed a $15 million Series B round for Singapore's Fastacash.

More regional momentum in this space was evidenced earlier this year with PayPal's launch of a financial technology incubator in Singapore.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Thailand
• Japan
• Golden Gate Ventures
• 500 Startups
• Financial Services
• TMT