YouTrip, a neobank in Southeast Asia, raises US$30 million to accelerate growth in B2C and B2B space

• YouTrip’s transaction volume has rebounded to pre-COVID levels, driven by strong traction in cross-border e-commerce transactions and return of travel spending. Exponential growth is expected in upcoming months following the opening of more Vaccinated Travel Lanes in Singapore and progressive return of SEA travel.
• The latest funding will be used to scale the neobank’s product offerings, including venturing into the B2B payments space, and accelerate its expansion into wider Southeast Asia.�
• YouTrip’s dual-growth engine in B2B and B2C payments enables it to be pandemic-resilient, and well-primed for high growth.

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 30 November 2021 – YouTrip, Singapore’s leading neobank offering a multi-currency wallet, announced today that it has raised US$30 million in its latest Series A round. The round, driven by returning investors from major Asian family offices and prominent financial technology investors, will solidify the fintech firm’s position as the leading neobank in Southeast Asia offering B2B and B2C multi-currency payments. With this, the company has now raised over US$60 million funding in total since launch.

 

The new capital will supercharge the company’s technological capabilities to bolster its suite of payment products, in particular entering the adjacent B2B payments space, as well as accelerating its entrance into the wider Southeast Asia.

 

Caecilia Chu, YouTrip’s CEO and Co-founder said, “We have transformed tremendously as a company since our last funding round^[1]. From a mobile travel wallet, we have grown to establish a strong foothold in new territories such as overseas online spending to meet the extraordinary shifts in consumer behaviours. We believe there is untapped potential in cross-border payments, and our market-leading position in this space puts us in a good place to serve more of our users’ payment needs – from travellers, to online shoppers, and now, businesses.”

 

“As a company, this latest round also gives us the resources to strengthen our multiple growth engines to stay resilient and well-primed for expansion into new vistas,” she added.

 

Card transaction exceeds US$800 million, exponential growth expected with travel return

 

YouTrip has maintained its position as the ‘go-to’ card for consumers’ multi-currency spending. To date, it has processed over US$800 million card spend globally, with almost 20 million transactions and over 1.5 million app downloads.

 

YouTrip’s transaction volume has also rebounded to pre-COVID levels, driven by strong traction in cross-border e-commerce transactions and progressive return of travel spending. With the opening of more Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) in Singapore, transaction volume is forecast to accelerate rapidly especially given upcoming holiday seasons and revenge travel.

 

B2B payments a promising growth engine

 

To advance its growth, YouTrip has set its sights on the B2B payments ecosystem. The industry, which is expected to be worth US$150 trillion by 2022^[2], is ripe with potential, with SMEs showing a strong willingness to adopt digital banking services, specifically for cross-border payments^[3].

 

Catering to businesses with a global footprint, YouTrip’s new corporate credit card, YouBiz, promises the best value and best-in-class multi-currency payment experience. The product offers higher spending limits while transacting at the best exchange rates in 150+ currencies, and credit terms offered to selected business account users. Companies will also be able to issue corporate cards to employees, with all expenses streamlined into one platform.

 

Arthur Mak, YouTrip’s Co-founder said, “We’re very excited about the B2B payments opportunity. It is a segment with a deep market, as companies increasingly operate in a distributed and borderless manner and we expect their cross-border payment needs to go up. By incorporating our company’s core strengths of offering the best exchange rates and an extremely easy to use interface into YouBiz, we help businesses save time and cost, so that they can focus their energy and efforts in finding growth.”

 

Registration for interest in the product’s beta launch has received more than 1,000 sign-ups to date.

 

YouBiz will be rolled out in Singapore in the first quarter of 2022, and with plans to bring it to five other Southeast Asia countries in the next twelve months.

 

Riding the tailwinds of ecommerce growth and travel resurgence

 

Lastly, YouTrip is optimistic about the headroom for growth in consumer’s multi-currency payments, driven by the rapid rebound of leisure travel, and the sustained popularity of e-commerce. YouTrip Perks – the company’s rewards platform offering cashbacks and deals from top merchants such as Taobao, Amazon and Singapore Airlines – has recorded a 150% increase in transactions since its launch in September.

 

For a more seamless payment experience, YouTrip will be refreshing its app with new features such as a virtual card, an interactive exchange rates dashboard, and the ability to hold more popular currencies in their wallet. This will be launched in early 2022.

 

On the travel front, with more VTLs opening and as Singaporeans steadily take flight, YouTrip has also launched its VTL Holiday Away campaign today to bring more value to their overseas trips. From today till 31 December, YouTrip users will get a chance to receive cashback of up to $100 when they pay using YouTrip for overseas spending, reinforcing its proposition as the best overseas payment method in the upcoming travel season. A grand prize of an all-expenses-paid VTL trip worth up to $5,000 will also be awarded to one selected user. For more information on the VTL Holiday Away campaign, please visit here.

About YouTrip

YouTrip is a Southeast Asian neobank offering the region’s first and leading multi-currency wallet. As a regional financial technology startup, it is dedicated to creating the best mobile financial services by simplifying foreign currency payments and offering the best exchange rates. YouTrip was launched in Singapore in 2018 and subsequently in Thailand in partnership with Kasikornbank in 2019. To date, it has received over 1.5 million downloads and processed close to 20 million transactions.

The company is a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and was awarded one of Top FinTech Leaders in both 2020 and 2021 by the Singapore FinTech Association.

For more information, please visit www.you.co

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