VENTURETECH SBI, VENTURETECH CATALYSE GROWTH IN LOCAL FINTECH INDUSTRY WITH RM10 MLN INVESTMENTS IN BAYO PAY

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Bernama) -- Local small and medium enterprises (SMES) will have greater access to personalised fintech platforms following an agreement signed between a joint venture fund management company and a government backed impact investment company with a non-bank e-money issuer.

Under the agreement, VentureTECH SBI Sdn Bhd and VentureTECH Sdn Bhd have invested RM7 million and RM3 million respectively in non-bank e-money issuer Bayo Pay (M) Sdn Bhd.

The RM10 million investment would also assist Bayo Pay, a licensed Mastercard non-bank e-money issuer, to further enhance its B2B2X white label Digital Payment-as-a-Service solutions to support the growth of local financial technology or fintech startups in Malaysia.

bootstrap slideshow

B2B2X is a growing business model where multiple parties (the Bs) create and deliver new services for any type of end-customer (the X), be they enterprises or consumers.

This Series A fundraising round was led by VentureTECH SBI, according to a statement issued by VentureTECH, which is the government-backed impact investment company.

VentureTECH SBI, meanwhile, is a joint-venture fund management company of VentureTECH and SBI Ventures Malaysia Sdn Bhd (a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings Inc of Japan).

The joint venture makes strategic investments in Southeast Asia with focus on Malaysian-based privately-owned companies that fall under its target sectors of high value added industry and emerging technology such as ICT, fintech, greentech and biotech.

The statement said the funding into Bayo Pay enables any fintech startups or corporates to dive into digital financial services at a more efficient cost.

Mohd Jerry Tan, principal of VentureTECH SBI said the RM7 million investment will speed up Bayo Pay’s product development cycle through hiring additional talents and client acquisition.

Ahmad Redzuan Sidek, chief executive officer (CEO) of VentureTECH said the RM3 million investment will support local fintech talents in line with Malaysia's vision of embracing IR4.0 towards creating a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable growth.

“Bayo Pay’s technological features would enable its clients to customise and offer various products that are central to its strategic positioning,” said Ahmad Redzuan.

Meanwhile, Aznul Abdullah, CEO of Bayo Pay, said the investments would help promote its ancillary digital services and help execute strategies to leverage the global surge in the use of digital payments.

VentureTECH said this marks its first investment in the fintech market segment and, with the addition of Bayo Pay, has invested and committed to invest in 25 technology industry leaders with an aggregate investee net worth surpassing the RM2 billion mark.

The co-investment agreement was signed yesterday by Mohd Jerry Tan, Ahmad Redzuan and Fardan Majeed, group managing director of Bayo Pay in VentureTECH’s office in Cyberjaya.

-- BERNAMA