MassMutual Ventures leads $33m round for Singapore's Aspire
The Southeast Asia arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance’s venture capital arm, has led a $32.5 million funding round for Singapore-based online banking platform Aspire.
Silicon Valley VC firm Arc Labs also participated in the funding round, along with existing investors Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures, and Picus Capital.
Aspire was founded in 2018 by former executives from Lazada and is present in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It provides a digital infrastructure aimed at helping digital merchants and start-ups across the region access capital from third-party financial services providers. The company’s flagship product, AspireAccount, provides customers with a range of financial services including a credit line for daily business experiences and a business-to-business payment platform.
In a statement, Aspire founder and CEO Andreas Baronchelli claimed the company has seen 30% month-on-month growth since its founding, and expects to have more than 100,000 business accounts by next year. It is also planning to introduce new products, such as a business credit card linked to every account that should be available by the end of 2019.
“We are very excited to be working with Andrea and his team to help solve multiple financial points for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in the region,” said Ryan Collins, a managing director at MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia (MMV SEA), in a statement. “We are impressed with the quality of the product, the company’s technology infrastructure, and its vast network of institutional partners.”
MMV SEA launched last year with an office in Singapore and a $50 million fund aimed at making Series A and B commitments to start-ups in sectors including digital health, insurance, and enterprise software. The vehicle will support 10-12 start-ups over the next three years, with a primary focus on Southeast Asia but with investments in other areas considered on an opportunistic basis.
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