Thailand’s Ascend Money raises $150m
Bangkok-based Ascend Money has raised $150 million from a group of investors including Ant Group, at a valuation of $1.5 billion. It claims to be Thailand’s first financial technology unicorn.
US-based Bow Wave Capital Management and Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group also participated. The capital will be used to grow the user base of the company’s TrueMoney e-wallet and expand operations.
Founded in 2013, Ascend Money aims to provide underserved small to medium-sized enterprises with e-commerce, data, and cloud services, as well as digital lending, digital investment, and cross-border remittances. TrueMoney has 50 million users across Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
The company claims to have grown significantly in the past few years, with total payment volume reaching $14 billion in 2020, 84% of which was facilitated in Thailand between 2019 and 2020.
“The pandemic's disruptive effects have accelerated the growth of the digital economy across Southeast Asia,” Itai Lemberger, founder and CIO of Bow Wave, said in a statement.
Thailand is recognized as having a robust fintech scene given the scope of its overall start-up ecosystem.
Most of the traditional domestic financial institutions have active fintech investment programs, including Bank of Ayudhya, which joined a $41 million round for crypto exchange Zipmex earlier this month. That deal coincided with Siam Commercial Bank joining a $45 million round for insurtech player Sunday.
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