Forbes Asia has released its 2022 “100 to Watch” list recognising the top 100 fastest-growing startups and small companies in the Asia Pacific region.

This year’s list include 17 startups in the fintech and insurtech sectors tackling a broad range of areas including business banking, wealth management, compliance and crypto crime.

These companies, representing 15 countries and territories, were selected from over 650 public nominations and cover 11 categories.

 

Alami (Indonesia)

Founded in 2018, Alami is a licensed Sharia-compliant peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for micro, small and medium-sized enterprise financing based in Indonesia. The company, which claims to have disbursed more than US$200 million for over 8,500 MSMEs financing transactions with 0% default rate, has been working toward becoming a full-fledged Sharia challenger bank, acquiring in March 2021 Sharia rural bank, BPRS Cempaka Al-Amin.

AwanTunai (Indonesia)

Founded in 2017, AwanTunai is a point of sale (POS) financing solution aimed at digitising Indonesia’s vast cash economy. The company builds digital distribution, helping thousands of micro-retail merchants to access working capital as well as accept payment from AwanTunai consumer credit, all the while providing consumer financing at the other end of the spectrum. AwanTunai closed a US$8.5 million round in March and is valued at around US$57 million.

EasyTransfer (Singapore)

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Singapore, EasyTransfer is an online tuition payment services platform for international students. The company hosts a global network of financial institutions and is partnered with payment services like Tencent, UnionPay and Cashfree Payments to offer families a streamlined and cost-effective international payment method. EasyTransfer claims more than 280,000 end-users, and over US$3 billion in transactions processed each year.

Endowus (Singapore)

Founded in 2017, Endowus is a Singapore-based digital wealth platform for the Central Provident Fund (CPF), Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), and cash savings, helping people grow their money with expert advice and access to institutional financial solutions at low fees. Endowus claims to manage more than S$2 billion in assets under management and expanded to Hong Kong in July 2022.

Fano Labs (Hong Kong)

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hong Kong, Fano Labs specialises in speech and natural language processing technologies, helping enterprises in finance, banking, insurance and other sectors with their customer services, compliance, and other lines of businesses. A spin-off from the University of Hong Kong, Fano Labs provides solutions such as voice authentication, sales monitoring and compliance checks.

Finhay (Vietnam)

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Hanoi, Finhay is a licensed brokerage company that runs a wealth management platform. The platform utilises machine learning to identify and recommend investments for investors, and claims more than 2.7 million registered users. Finhay closed a US$25 million Series B in June to invest in strategic business expansion, talent acquisition and technology development.

G-hcare (Mainland China)

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Shanghai, G-hcare provides business-to-business health insurance data and management platforms for insurance companies. Through a global medical network and advanced risk management technology, G-hcare enables the insurance industry to provide diversified health management and insurance schemes, and improve customer experience. The company works with insurers like China Life, China Taiping and Ping An.

Leapstack (Mainland China)

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in both Beijing and Shanghai, Leapstack is a technology company focusing on health insurance risk control. The company serves insurance companies, insurance intermediary and other regulatory partners, providing them with artificial intelligence and big data-driven risk control solutions. Leapstack closed a CNY 150 million (US$21.6 million) Series C in January 2022 and has been working on expanding regionally.

Magnum Research (Hong Kong)

Founded at and incubated by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2016, Magnum Research is the developer of digital wealth management platform Aqumon. The company focuses on making investment advice cost-effective, transparent and accessible to both financial institutions and retail investors, leveraging big data and quantitative technology to enable optimal portfolio constructure. Aqumon claims more 150 partnering financial institutions.

Merkle Science (Singapore)

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Singapore, Merkle Science provides blockchain transaction monitoring and intelligence solutions for crypto-asset service providers, financial institutions, and government agencies, helping them detect, investigate, and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal activities. The company secured a US$19 million Series A in August 2022.

NewBanker (Mainland China)

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Beijing, NewBanker is the developer of a customer relationship management software for the wealth management industry. The company’s platform provides a business support system for wealth management organisations as well as a site acquisition system. NewBanker claims to be serving dozens of financial institutions and funds in China including China Merchants Fund Management, Harvest Fund Management and Yinhua Fund Management.

OneDegree (Hong Kong)

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Hong Kong, OneDegree is a licensed virtual insurer offering protection for pet, e-commerce, home, critical illness and digital assets for individuals and businesses. For corporates, OneDegree provides an insurance platform designed to fully digitise the insurance process. OneDegree claims to have accumulated over 100,000 paid users in Hong Kong, making it the largest virtual insurer in the city.

Payhere (South Korea)

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Seoul, Payhere is a mobile POS system maker. The company provides software that can be used free of charge by anyone who downloads it, allowing small business owners to accept different payment methods affordably and conveniently. Payhere closed a US$84.2 million Series A in December 2021, claiming 9,000 customers at the time.

PeopleFund (South Korea)

Founded in 2015 and based in South Korea, PeopleFund is a P2P lending platform that connects borrowers with lenders. The company leverages technology and a proprietary, data-driven credit model to deliver better loan rates for borrowers while maintaining a low default rate. PeopleFund claims it has surpassed the US$1 billion in loan origination mark and served 400,000 retail investors.

Qapita (Singapore)

Founded in 2019 and based in Singapore, Qapita is a provider of a digital equity management software-as-a-service solution. Qapita’s solution seeks to automate the equity management process for startups, facilitate liquidity to shareholders, and automate all processes for equity matters in private markets. The startup has secured more than US$32 million in funding.

Thriday (Australia)

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Melbourne, Thriday is an all-in-one financial management platform for businesses, focusing on automating banking and accounting functions. Formerly known as Thrive, Thriday provides a transaction account that comes with features such as expense tracking, invoicing, reconciling, payroll, AI features for budgeting, taxes and accounting, and more. The service has not launched yet but claims over 10,500 businesses in its waitlist.

Verihubs (Indonesia)

Founded in 2019 and based in Jakarta, Verihubs is an all-inclusive verification platform, helping enterprises and startups in sectors such as banking, fintech, e-commerce, and other digital sectors to prevent fraud occurrences. The company uses AI-based identity authentication technology and APIs to allow companies to verify returning customers through SMS, WhatsApp or flash calls. As of September 2021, it claimed 46 customers including major banks and fintech companies.

 

Featured image credit: edited from Freepik