YouTrip, a Singapore-based financial technology start-up and creator of Singapore’s first multi-currency mobile wallet, amassed a record S$34.9 million in pre-series A funding in less than a year since its founding. The company announced this in a statement that the multi-million dollar funding round raised is the largest for a fintech start-up in Southeast Asia. YouTrip listed “major Asian family offices” and Insignia Ventures Partners as participating investors.
With this sum of money, YouTrip stated it intends to invest significantly in technology innovation to enhance its payment infrastructure while innovating new features for their product. It plans to expand further into Southeast Asia and develop “localised solutions” to address the growing traveller market.
YouTrip’s mobile wallet app is stated by the company to allow users to pay in more than 150 currencies at wholesale exchange rates and no hidden fees. The app also allows for the storage and exchange of 10 selected currencies and is compatible with a linked prepaid MasterCard issued by EZ-Link. It is also said to be usable for payments at over 30 million MasterCard-accepting merchants globally.
The 650 million people living in Southeast Asia represents “one of the largest and fastest growing outbound travellers market in the world,” YouTrip claimed. By 2020, S$109 billion in total outbound travel expenditure. Singapore is found to be the most significant contributor in Southeast Asia as Singaporeans are among the world’s most frequent travellers and biggest overseas spenders.
Co-founder and CEO of YouTrip, Caecilia Chu stated that she was surprised by how much banks would mark up on overseas transactions. This sparked her motivation to build the start-up with Arthur Mak.
“As the regional travel industry continues to post robust growth, YouTrip recognises the pain points of travellers and equally, the immense opportunity to better serve their financial needs,” Chu added.
Pachara Lawjindakul, principal at Insignia Ventures Partners, said: “The fintech space in Southeast Asia is developing at a relentless pace to meet evolving consumer expectations and the travel industry represents an immense untapped market at the intersection of this growth.”