Aspire, a Singapore-based FinTech firm, has on Tuesday announced that it has closed an oversubscribed Series C round at $100 milion.
Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital SEA, Paypal Ventures, LGT Capital Partners and existing backers Picus Capital and Mass Mutual Ventures have participated in the round, Aspire said in a statement.
According to the statement, Aspire plans to use the funding to enhance its product offering further and expand its regional presence, while increasing its team to continue to innovate in the space.
With the fresh round of funding, Aspire said it is well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory and cement its position as a leading business to business (B2B) fintech in the rapidly-growing Southeast Asian economy.
In 2023, the company plans to add more talent across the region and help further, build the SE-Asia tech ecosystem while maintaining a solid business model with best-in-class unit economics.
“We are excited to partner with world-class investors to bring finance back to the driving seat of new age businesses in Southeast Asia,” said Andrea Baronchelli, Aspire Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
“From delivering real-time financial data, to fast and transparent cross-border payments, to empowering business teams with world-class spend management capabilities to move fast and move right – we look forward to empowering every modern business, big or small, with the right financial tools to realize their full potential,” he added.
Founded in 2018, Aspire is an all-in-one finance operating system for new-age businesses.
The firm offers businesses a unified suite of financial services including international payments, corporate cards, payable and receivable management, accessible via a single, user-friendly account.
It has quickly gained popularity in Southeast Asia, and recently tripled its annualized total payment volumes to $12 billion from over 15,000 businesses across the region.
Headquartered in Singapore, the firm has over 400 employees across four countries and is backed by global top-tier venture capitals, including Sequoia, Lightspeed, and Y-Combinator.
“Aspire has emerged as a leader in the B2B fintech space in Southeast Asia, with a complete end-to-end product for managing business finance, a strong track record of growth, and solid fundamentals,” said Bejul Somaia, Partner at Lightspeed.
“We are excited to partner with this world-class team to support their vision for the future of financial services in the region,” he added.
Lightspeed is a multi-stage investment firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends across all sectors.
Since 2000, the firm has backed entrepreneurs and helped build companies of tomorrow, including Snap, Hasura, OYO, Affirm, Razorpay, Grab, AppDynamics, Nutanix, Supabase, Byju’s, and Udaan.
Lightspeed and its affiliates currently manage more than $18 billion across the global Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in India, Silicon Valley, Israel, China, Southeast Asia and Europe.
Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to initial public offering (IPO) to beyond.
Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, CRED, Druva, Five Star Finance, Freshworks, GoTo, Groww, Kopi Kenangan, Mamaearth, Pine Labs, Polygon, Razorpay, Truecaller, Zomato and more.
Keyword: Singapore's Aspire closes $100M Series C round