Scaling up in financial comparison

An IPO followed in 2007, raising GBP366 million ($548 million), and Moneysupermarket now has a market capitalization of around GBP1.5 billion. In 2014, the company's platforms generated GBP241.1 million in revenue.

Having worked in investment banking in London for Morgan Stanley and then e-commerce in Asia for Rocket Internet, Gerald Eder asked: Why isn't anyone scaling up a financial comparison service in Asia? This question led to the formation of CompareAsiaGroup last year, with backing from Nova Founders Capital, an early-stage investment firm set up by three partners who formerly managed Rocket's e-commerce portfolio.

Following $5 million in seed funding, CompareAsiaGroup recently received a $40 million round led by Goldman Sachs and featuring Nova, Jardine Pacific, ACE & Company, Route 66 Ventures, and several angel investors.

The site offers information on 1,500 financial products - deriving revenue from financial services providers that see CompareAsiaGroup as an alternative marketing tool - employs 150 industry and technology professionals, and is rolling out in eight markets, from Taiwan down to Indonesia.

Eder acknowledges that his team must address distinct market characteristics. While Hong Kong already has a MoneyHero mobile platform, consumers in less developed markets require more encouragement. "They may prefer to have a phone conversation and so in each market we have built up call centers to support the website through human interaction," he says. The range and timing of different product categories also varies according to local demand.

Eder claims that the company is seeing growth of 30-50% month-on-month and the new funding will go towards sustaining this expansion. "The capital allows us to build up more categories, more product comparison tables in each country. "We can also build a more robust and user-friendly platform and also invest heavily in advertising and marketing."

Recruiting sufficient talented people to support these efforts is a challenge but CompareAsiaGroup does not feel under pressure from other comparison sites. Rather, the competition is television and bank branch networks - the places where banks might otherwise commit their marketing dollars.

"In every market there are websites that try to do business with banks and insurance companies," Eder says. "It is about getting them comfortable with a new tool in their distribution channels. They can use our platform to acquire customers at lower cost."

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• Topics
• Venture
• Financials
• Technology
• Southeast Asia
• Venture
• Financial Services
• Technology
• Southeast Asia
• Goldman Sachs
• Nova Founders Capital