Thailand has a small and nascent startup ecosystem that’s mostly made up of early-stage ventures focusing on product development as well as securing their first group of customers.
Within this small yet burgeoning ecosystem, fintech is not only the largest sector by the number of companies, but also the vertical that has secured the most funding, according to a 2023 report by consultancy Deloitte.
Of the 290 tech startups identified in Thailand in 2022, 10.2% or 30 companies operated in the fintech sector. Additionally, the fintech sector had accounted for 60% of total capital funding since 2020, the report says.
With the Thai fintech industry on the rise, we’ve decided to look at the country’s up-and-coming fintech startups, identifying the companies that have raised the most funding. For this list, we’ve focused on fintech companies with their headquarters in Thailand, ranking them based on their disclosed total funding.
Opn – US$222 million
Founded in 2013, Opn specializes in online payment solutions and digital transformation solutions. The company’s offerings include a one-stop online payment platform, Opn Payments; embedded financial solutions tailored to the needs of customers; and Opn Tag, which creates contactless digital touchpoints; as well as digital wallets utilizing blockchain technology. In addition, its offers consulting services through its Opn Pro brand.
Opn started out in Thailand in 2015 as Omise before expanding its geographic reach to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The company says its fintech solutions are used by more than 22,000 enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses around the world.
Opn raised US$120 million in a Series C+ in May 2022, bringing its total funding to over US$222 million. The company said it would use the proceeds to accelerate the development of its core payment solutions, while also expanding into new territories within its core markets of Southeast Asia and Japan and beyond.
In February 2023, Opn launched a new development center in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ascend Money – US$150 million
Founded in 2013, Ascend Money is a Thai fintech company part of Ascend Group, a digital technology business conglomerate providing digital financial, e-commerce, data and cloud services. The company operates TrueMoney, a fintech platform that provides products and services including TrueMoney Wallet, WeCard by MasterCard, TrueMoney Cash Card, Kiosk, Express, Payment Gateway, and Remittance.
TrueMoney serves more than 50 million users through its e-wallet application and which counts 88,000 TrueMoney agents across Southeast Asia.
In Thailand, Ascend Money claimed 14 million monthly active users in Q1 2022, up from 2.5 million in 2017, Monsinee Nakapanant, co-president of Ascend Money, told the Bangkok Post in May 2022. She said the firm’s revenue grew 25% year-on-year (YoY) in the first four months of 2022 while e-wallet payment transactions surged 60%.
Ascend Money, which is striving to become a financial super-app, secured US$150 million in September 2021 at a US$1.5 billion valuation. The company said it would use the proceeds to grow the user base of its TrueMoney Wallet app, and to expand digital financial services, including digital lending, digital investment and cross-border remittances across Southeast Asia.
In 2023, the company expanded its e-wallet offering to Malaysia.
Sunday – US$75 million
Founded in 2017, Sunday is a fully-integrated sales and services insurtech that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms to offer personalized insurance products and services that suit all types of individual and business risks.
The company runs three main brands: Sunday Ins, a full-service digital life and non-life brokerage arm for its direct consumers, corporate clients and partners regionally; Sunday Care, a healthcare and electronics protection solution provider; and Sunday Technologies, a data science and technology service provider.
Since its launch, Sunday claims it has sold more than 1 million policies and grown its customer base to 100,000+ active health members, and 700+ local enterprises.
Sunday has raised US$75 million in funding, according to CB Insights, its latest round being a US$45 million Series B closed in September 2021. The company said it would use the funding to expand its Indonesia and develop new distribution channels, including insurance agents and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Roojai – US$69 million
Established in 2016, Roojai is an insurtech startup that builds online insurance products designed to be simple to understand, easy to use, affordable and with superior quality services. The company offers vehicle coverage, critical illness insurance, accident insurance, travel insurance, and many more.
A licensed insurance broker, Roojai has exclusive partnerships with leading insurance companies in Thailand and Southeast Asia, including AXA Thailand, Krungthai Panich Insurance and FWD Thailand.
The company expanded to Indonesia in early 2022 after its fully digitized and frictionless insurance buying experience proved successful in Thailand. The company claims its premium income in Thailand grew by 25% to US$38 million in 2022 while its customer base rose by 40% to 150,000.
According to CB Insights, Roojai has raised US$69 million in funding, its latest round being a US$42 million Series B secured in March 2023. The company said it would use the proceeds to accelerate its growth in Thailand, fuel its expansion in Indonesia and across South East Asia, with an immediate focus on the Philippines, and to pursue acquisition opportunities.
SCB Abacus – US$43.5 million
Founded in 2017, SCB Abacus is an alternative digital lending specialist and the operator of MoneyThunder.
MoneyThunder is a digital lending platform that uses alternative data and machine learning (ML) to provide unbanked consumers with access to finance. The platform runs on top of SCB Abacus’ proprietary ML capability, called Abacus Core Technology (ACT), which underwrites loans and provides a fast and completely automated approval experience for consumers.
SCB Abacus claims its MoneyThunder platform is able to approve and disburse loans in just 15 minutes, and says the mobile app has had more eight million downloads.
SCB Abacus closed a US$20 million Series B funding round in July 2022, bringing its total fundng to THB 1.5 billion (US$43.5 million). The company said it would use the proceeds to uplift its digital lending service, accelerate product development, strengthen its team, and expand its partnerships both domestically and internationally for better risk management.
Monix – US$40 million
Founded in 2020, Monix is an international joint venture fintech company between Thailand’s leading financial business group SCBX and China’s fintech unicorn Abakus Group.
The company operates FINNIX, a digital lending app providing unsecured lending solutions for underbanked people in Thailand.
Powered by ML and artificial intelligence (AI), the platform makes use of alternative data to assess the creditworthiness of borrowers. It requires no paper documents or guarantors, and says it is capable of approving and disbursing loans in five minutes.
Monix claims it had recorded US$458 million in loan disbursements to over 650,000 users as of 2022.
In February 2023, the company secured US$20 million in the first close of its pre-initial public offering (IPO) fundraising, bringing its total funding to US$40 million. The company said it would use the capital to accelerate its growth and expansion of digital lending and financial product offerings, bolster customer growth and engagement, and innovate its services to enhance financial inclusion for Thai citizens, as well as prepare for an IPO.
Rabbit Care – US$24.6 million
Founded in 2013 as Rabbit Finance, Rabbit Care is a leading marketplace for insurance and financial products. The company provides an online comparison platform that allows customers to conveniently compare and buy insurance and financial products, and leverages technology to simplify insurance and financial product brokerage.
The platform covers six business segments, namely motor insurance, health insurance, life insurance, other insurance, corporate insurance, and financial products, and counts more than 70 business partners.
Rabbit Care, a subsidiary business of Rabbit Group under VGI, claims more than four million customers, and says it generated THB 3 billion (US$87.4 million) in insurance premium in 2022 and experienced a 144% increase in commissions from financial products. Most recently, it established and launched Rabbit Care Lending, a new brand focusing on buy now pay later (BNPL) financing plans.
In March 2021, Rabbit Care said it had raised a total of THB 850 million (US$24.6 million) since its inception. In the same month, the firm acquired in Asia Direct Insurance Broker, an omnichannel motor insurance brokerage. In July 2022, Rabbit Care secured an undisclosed amount in a Series C funding round.
Finnomena – US$13.5 million
Founded in 2015, Finnomena is the developer of an investment and portfolio management app designed to help users invest and manage their financial goals.
The company’s app recommends an automated portfolio of stocks based on the risk that investors choose. It tracks customers’ investment situations, adjust their investment plans to their needs, and also enables investors to research and receive real-time analysis of markets and funds.
Finnomena has experienced significant growth over the past years, reaching THB 30 billion (US$867 million) in assets under management (AUM) in H1 2021. The sum represents a 90% growth in a span of just six months.
The company closed its latest round of funding in January 2020, securing a US$10 million Series B to expand across Southeast Asia. The round brought Finnomena’s total funding to US$13.5 million, reported the Business Times back then.
Featured image credit: Edited from freepik
