Malaysia Fintech Industry News - Nov 2017

Jirexu raises US$ 2 mil in pre-Series B round

Southeast Asia’s only full stack fintech solutions provider, Jirnexu, has raised US$ 2 mil in a pre-Series B round. Japan-based SBI Group led the latest round, joined by existing investors, Celebes and Cento Ventures, bringing total funding to US$ 8 mil. Jirnexu provides financial service institutions with a solution to effectively increase sales by attracting, retaining and monetizing connected consumers. Over half of all consumer banks in Malaysia are already signed onto XpressApply, the technology which has enabled Jirnexu’s clients to achieve 300 per cent return on investment (ROI). Jirnexu recently partnered with RHB Bank to introduce Southeast Asia’s first real-time messenger-style chatbot for online personal loan applications.

DiGi appoints MOLPay, iPay88 as vcash partners

DiGi announced that its mobile payment service called “vcash” will be made available as a payment option for merchants under MOLPay and iPay88's online payment gateway network. Customers can transact using vcash with thousands of merchants with online shopfronts nationwide. The vcash app is available for all Malaysians regardless of telecom operator, with bank-level security to pay for transactions, deposit cash, and send money to friends and family with its peer-to-peer (P2P) funds transfer capabilities. P2P and ePayment transactions are free for users. The partnership will enable more Malaysians to begin transacting online without a debit or credit card.

Malaysia-Vietnam partnership to open electronic payment opportunities

Malaysia’s payment service provider GHL Systems Berhad entered the Vietnamese market on a strategic cooperation agreement with MPOS Vietnam Technology Joint Stock Company, the only mobile payment service provider in Vietnam. Through GHL, MPOS will expand its business activities in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, exporting payment technology developed by the Vietnamese people. The partnership is complemented by ACTIS, a US$ 13 bil investment fund in fintech and also the largest shareholder in GHL. The next strategy of MPOS and GHL is to promote the development of mobile and internet based payment methods, including QR-Code and NFC (Near Field Communication).