Malaysia is one of the most developed nations in Southeast Asia with a fast-growing economy and tech-savvy population. In recent years, the country’s fintech sector has been expanding rapidly and a number of innovative fintech companies have emerged in Malaysia, providing solutions that cater to various financial needs such as banking, investment, payment and lending. In this issue, Top 10 of Malaysia shares its pick of the ten most successful fintech companies (listed in no particular order) that have revolutionised the traditional financial sector by offering convenient and affordable financial services to the public thus making Malaysia a hub for fintech innovation.
PolicyStreet
PolicyStreet is one of Malaysia’s most successful insurance technology group of companies that provide cutting-edge digital insurance solutions to businesses and consumers in Southeast Asia and Australia. Founded by Yen Ming, Wilson Beh and Winnie Chua, PolicyStreet works directly with over 40 life, general, and takaful providers globally to offer a comprehensive range of products and services, which includes embedded insurance, customised employee benefits, financial advisory and aggregation of insurance and development of digital solutions to make insurance purposeful and simple for businesses and consumers. Through its regional group of companies, it serves more than 5 million customers with over US$ 6 billion in sum insured. In the last 5 years, it has formed strategic partnerships with notable companies like Carsome, Grab, FoodPanda, AirAsia and CTOS by powering up insurance solutions for their customers.
Curlec
Established in 2018 by Zac Liew and Steve Kucia, Curlec is one of Malaysia’s top fintech companies that makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to collect recurring payments and take control of their cash flow. Curlec started by providing bank-to-bank payments and now, it has broadened its offerings to include card payments, payouts as well as subscription management and billing features. Today, Curlec is part of the Razorpay group, India’s leading payments and banking platform for businesses. The company serves over 8 million businesses and is backed by some of the world’s marquee investors that include Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, Lone Pine Capital and TCV, and was part of the prestigious Silicon Valley tech accelerator, Y Combinator.
Finology
Award-winning fintech company, Finology was founded by Robin Ang and Jared Lim. Finology specialises in enabling embedded, end-to-end, and seamless access to financial products and is renown in Asia Pacific. The company’s lending and insurance suites of API-driven solutions enable financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies to offer seamless end-to-end digital experiences to their customers. The said solutions have also enabled consumer-facing businesses such as property developers, automotive distributors, and digital players to seamlessly embed loans and insurance products as part of their offerings. Finology’s direct-to-consumer brand, Loanstreet, promotes financial products of banks and insurance companies. Finology also has unique lending technology patents in Australia and Malaysia.
Capital Bay
Established in 2016 by Ang Xing Xian, Edwin Tan, Dion Tan and Darrel Ang, Capital Bay is a multi-award-winning supply chain finance and peer-to-peer financing platform. The company facilitates inclusive business financing by utilising existing trade data and relationships. Through Capital Bay’s proprietary credit-decisioning model, businesses of all sizes can obtain short-term financing while banks and investors are able to participate in high-quality financing deals. Its supply chain finance technology solution provides its partners with all the technology advantages without the capital outlay and maintenance costs. The company’s technology has received numerous industry awards and have gained strong traction over the years.
iMoney
iMoney was founded by See Wai Hun and it is one Malaysia’s leading financial comparison aggregator. It provides services where users can compare and apply for credit cards, personal loans, broadband and insurance online. iMoney provides valuable information on the best promotions, rates and expert tips on finance for its users. Its team of professionals curate and aggregate financial and utility products that are suitable for individuals at different stages of life. The company has attracted millions of users and partnered with over 40 brands. To date, iMoney has benefitted over 29 million customers across Malaysia and Philippines in their personal financial journey through smart comparisons, simplified applications, tools, and money tips. It has also worked with over 90 financial services partners and government agencies to empower people in financial literacy.
Soft Space
Soft Space, an award-winning company founded in 2012 and led by Joel Tay, is known as one of the top fintech companies in the ASEAN region. With over 20 financial institutions in 10 countries adopting its solutions, the company is now expanding into omnichannel payments, including the adoption of artificial intelligence, QR code payments, e-wallet systems, and money lending schemes. Soft Space’s payment platforms incorporate secure open application programme interfaces, allowing third parties to develop value-added features that can be easily integrated with its platforms. This enables financial institutions and customers to select modules that suit their specific business needs. Soft Space’s services are used in 11 global markets and by 20 financial institutions.
Touch ‘n Go
Led by Praba Sangarajoo, Touch ‘n Go has led the digital transformation of Malaysia’s progress towards a cashless society. Known as one of Malaysia’s leading electronic payment system for micro payment, what began with commuter convenience has grown to become a fintech solution that is no longer bound to highways, but is now a facet of the lives of more than half the country. Touch ‘n Go is well-known for providing fintech services to millions of users such as the Touch ‘n Go card, Smart Tag, Touch ‘n Go e-wallet, TNG Digital, Touch ‘n Go RFID and PayDirect, GO+, GOinvest, and GOpinjam for investment and lending. The company has gained a reputation for its commitment to innovation and its electronic payment system has made it easy for Malaysians to manage their finances and make transactions securely and conveniently.
Boost
Boost is led by its CEO, Anthony Sheyantha Abeykoon. Boost is the regional full spectrum fintech arm of Axiata that financially empowers millions of customers, including both users and merchants, across 7 countries in Southeast Asia through the company’s ever-expanding fintech ecosystem spanning its all-in-one fintech app, merchant solutions, AI-based lending business, and cross-border payment platform. Boost’s app is one of the most popular apps that simplifies business with advanced technology and innovative solutions. Boost’s mobile wallet also enables users to top up their mobile prepaid on-the-go with Boost and enjoy cashback after every top up. Boost also provides digital vouchers at up to 50% off from popular brands such as Grab, Spotify, iflix, Steam Wallet, Tealive and MyBurgerlab.
IIMMPACT
IIMMPACT is one of Malaysia’s most successful fintech companies that provide aggregation services such as information and payment covering mobile recharge, bill payments, government services, insurance and transportation. Established in 2017 by Kelvin Lee and Alex Tan, IIMPACT provides many services in one single e-wallet app. The company has also successfully created a unified app that aggregates all the service providers. As of now, IIMMPACT has approximately over 100 products available within the app. Over a short time, IIMPACT has reached over 40 thousand users. The company also has B2B clients that uses the app to integrate IIMMPACT’s payment, information, and finance aggregation services on their existing businesses such as e-wallet app, remittance, mobility, e-commerce and accounting.
BerryPay
Led by Azlan Shazmi Anwar, BerryPay offers digital financial solutions for the underserved population with affordable, secure and seamless ecosystem across the financial industry. The company has offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates with 13,000 bank branches and 3 million users. BerryPay’s fintech system becomes the enabling solution for conventional banks to embark on digitisation with minimum capital. It focuses on identifying and serving the needs of underserved population of foreign workers in the Asia Pacific region. BerryPay’s system is an end-to-end technical solution for a virtual account system to fulfill both business-to-customer and business-to-business requirements. Its systems are built on microservice architecture, with a single application as a suite of small services, each running on its own process and communicating with lightweight mechanism.
