Thailand is home to a vibrant and rapidly evolving fintech sector, an industry that’s grown throughout the years on the back of supportive government initiatives, a growing middle class and increased digital penetration, as well as a burgeoning ecosystem of startups and established financial institutions.

We’ve tracked over 107 fintechs operating in Thailand in our latest fintech startup map.

Recognizing the transformative power of fintech, the Thai government has spearheaded a number of initiatives designed to nurture and foster the development of fintech. These initiatives include regulatory sandboxes, which allow financial service providers to test their innovative products and services in a safe environment; Project Inthanon-LionRock, a joint initiative between the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to explore the application of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to increase efficiency in cross-border funds transfers; and Thailand 4.0, a national plan designed to step up the country’s financial infrastructure and support the growth of fintech businesses.

Most recently, BOT released a licensing framework for virtual banks, announcing that only three virtual bank licenses will be granted initially. Applications are expected to open in 2024 and official business operations are set to begin in 2025.

This environment has paved the way for the development of a vibrant fintech startup ecosystem that boasted nearly 300 fintech companies in late-2022, a report by UOB, PwC Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association shows.

Among those startups, several have made notable strides over the past year, securing financial backing from prominent investors, witnessing strong customer growth and expanding overseas. Today, we look at some of Thailand’s up-and-coming fintech startups, delving into their latest developments, growth and what they have in store for the year to come.

Ascend Money

Founded in 2013, Ascend Money is a Thai fintech company part of the Ascend Group, a digital technology business conglomerate providing digital financial, e-commerce, data and cloud services.

The company operates TrueMoney, a fintech platform and super-app that provides products and services including the TrueMoney Wallet, WeCard by MasterCard, TrueMoney Cash Card, Kiosk, Express, Payment Gateway, and Remittance.

TrueMoney claims 27 million users and an average spending via its app of THB 3,000-4,000 (US$82-110) per month. In terms of financial services, the platform boasts 2.5 million account holders who use its savings, investment and lending services. TrueMoney’s payment service currently covers 7 million points in Thailand and supports payment in 40 other countries, including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China.

In 2023, the company expanded its e-wallet offering to Malaysia, its sixth market in Southeast Asia. The expansion occurred through a partnership with Lotus’s Stores Malaysia, one of the country’s biggest hypermarket operators.

Monsinee Nakapanant, co-president of Ascend Money, told the Bangkok Post in May 2023 that TrueMoney aims to have 50% of the Thai population using its services actively everyday by 2025 and seeks to reach profitability this year. The company is also planning to apply for a virtual bank license in Thailand and will pursue new fundraising through an initial public offering (IPO) or other options, she said.

Opn

Founded in 2013, Opn specializes in online payment solutions and digital transformation solutions. The company’s offerings include a one-stop online payment platform, Opn Payments; embedded financial solutions tailored to the needs of customers; Opn Tag, which creates contactless digital touchpoints; as well as digital wallets utilizing blockchain technology. In addition, the company offers consulting services through its Opn Pro brand.

Opn started out in Thailand in 2015 as Omise before expanding its geographic reach to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The company says its fintech solutions are used by more than 22,000 enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses around the world.

Opn made several strides this year, launching a new development center in Hanoi, Vietnam in February, kicking off a card issuing offering in Thailand in June and integrating in July Atome into its payment platform for Malaysian and Singaporean customers.

Opn’s card issuing platform enables customers to easily launch, manage, scale their own branded card programs, and generate new revenue streams, while its integration of Atome allows its customers to offer BNPL payment options.

The releases followed a US$120 million in a Series C+ Opn secured in May 2022 which brought its total funding to over US$222 million. The company said at the time it would use the proceeds to accelerate the development of its core payment solutions and expand into new territories.

Roojai

Established in 2016, Roojai is an insurtech startup that builds online insurance products designed to be simple to understand, easy to use, affordable and with superior quality services. The company offers vehicle coverage, critical illness insurance, accident insurance, travel insurance, and many more.

A licensed insurance broker, Roojai has exclusive partnerships with leading insurance companies in Thailand and Southeast Asia, including AXA Thailand, Krungthai Panich Insurance and FWD Thailand.

In early 2022, the company expanded to Indonesia, and in 2023, it made a series of acquisitions to solidify its position locally and enter new markets. These deal included the acquisition of the local business of FWD General Insurance from Bolttech, and the purchase of DirectAsia, a Singapore-based insurance firm whose primary business is motor.

With the acquisitions, Roojai became a full digital insurance company with the license to underwrite general insurance products in Thailand. The company also increased its market share with a combined portfolio of over 400,000 vehicles insured in three countries and 300,000 individuals protected with its accident and health products.

According to CB Insights, Roojai has raised US$69 million in funding, its latest round being a US$42 million Series B secured in March 2023. The company said it would use the proceeds to accelerate its growth in Thailand, fuel its expansion across Southeast Asia, and pursue acquisition opportunities.

Rabbit Care

Founded in 2013 as Rabbit Finance, Rabbit Care is a leading marketplace for insurance and financial products. The company provides an online comparison platform that allows customers to conveniently compare and buy insurance and financial products, and leverages technology to simplify insurance and financial product brokerage.

The platform covers six business segments, namely motor insurance, health insurance, life insurance, other insurance, corporate insurance, and financial products, and counts more than 70 business partners.

A subsidiary business of Rabbit Group under VGI, Rabbit Care claims more than four million customers. The company says it generated THB 3 billion (US$87.4 million) in insurance premium in 2022 and experienced a 144% increase in commissions from financial products.

Most recently, Rabbit Care established and launched Rabbit Care Lending, a new brand focusing on BNPL financing plans, and acquired in September EasyCompare’s broker business.

With the acquisition, Rabbit Care welcomed 30,000 clients and says it is now on track to achieve its targeted 2023 revenue growth of 50% to consolidate its position in the industry. Additionally, the company expects its insurance premiums across all products to exceed THB 4.5 billion (US$123.5 million) for the current financial year.

Finnomena

Founded in 2015, Finnomena is the developer of digital wealth management platform for investors and financial advisors, offering personalized investment recommendations based on individual risk profiles and financial goals.

The platform utilizes a proprietary machine learning (ML) technology and a hybrid robo-advisory model to generate above market returns and deliver a superior tech-enabled user experience. It also offers educational content and tools to empower users to make well-informed investment decisions.

Finnomena claims it has witnessed strong growth over the past year and says it now serves more than 120,000 customers, representing more than 5% of Thailand’s mutual fund investors. The company claims it reached US$1 billion in assets under management (AUM) in March 2023.

Finnomena secured a US$5.5 million Series B+ in July 2023 to further develop its investment management platform and expand its range of products to include new asset classes like crowdfunding and investment tokens.

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• Source: https://fintechnews.sg/79180/thailand/top-5-thai-fintechs-we-think-will-make-waves-in-2024/