Aspire, whose mission is to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs with the financial tools they need to realize their company’s full potential, announced recently that it has raised US$100 million in a Series C round to grow its all-in-one finance operating system for businesses.
The Singapore-based firm said in a press statement that it will use the new capital to increase its team, enhance its product offering, and expand its presence in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
According to the same press statement, the company’s Series C funding round has included investments from Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital SEA, PayPal Ventures, LGT Capital Partners, and existing backers Picus Capital and MassMutual Ventures.
“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, a partner of Lightspeed.
Recent research from PYMNT shows that nearly one-third of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) would be interested in using an all-in-one payment platform to receive payments.
According to “The AP/AR Quick-Start Guide: Reducing B2B Payments Friction for SMBs,” these types of platforms can address many of SMBs’ accounts payable and account receivable headaches, which include inefficiencies and pain points when making and receiving B2B payments.
Aspire’s unified suite of financial services for businesses includes international payments, corporate cards, and AP and AR management, according to the release.
The firm serves 15,000 startups and SMBs in Southeast Asia and currently handles annualized total payment volumes of US$12 billion, the press release further said.
“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,” said Andrea Baronchelli, co-founder and CEO of Aspire.
Aspire’s funding round comes about a year after Indonesian banking and digital finance platform Akulaku got a US$100 million investment to help it continue its expansion plans across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
Akulaku said at the time that it already had a presence in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and was founded to give underserved customers in emerging markets access to digital banking, digital financing, digital investment, and insurance brokerage services.