Fintech KPay Group (KPay), a one-stop financial management and business operations platform, has successfully completed its first institutional funding round, raising a record US$55 million, the largest Series A globally in the payments sector in 2024.
This landmark investment was led by Apis Growth Markets Fund III and Apis Global Growth Fund III (both for which Apis Partners serves as the portfolio manager), validating, the fintech says, its strategic vision, market leadership and ambitious growth trajectory.
UK-based Apis Partners is an environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact-native global private equity asset manager that manages or advises on total assets under management of US$2.3 billion. This investment will not only accelerate the fintech’s existing trajectory but also provide the basis for its aggressive expansion plans across emerging Asia.
With fintech funding in Asia-Pacific hitting a six-year low in H1 2024, according the fintech, its record-breaking Series A stands out as a testament to the company’s execution excellence and opportunity set ahead.
The successful funding also demonstrates investors’ appetite to back companies that have a proven playbook to drive expansion across Asia and can do so in a capital-efficient manner. Notably, up until this Series A round, KPay has yet to raise venture capital funding to deliver growth.
The investment from Apis Partners includes a commitment by the fintech to expand its presence across key Asian economies, including those in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and elsewhere. It will leverage the capital to drive both organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions.
This partnership aligns closely with the shared vision of Apis and KPay to drive meaningful change, recognizing, the companies say, the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for 55.8% of total employment in Asia and, in turn, acknowledging that supporting SME growth fosters broader economic development and strengthens regional economies.
Founded just over three years ago, the fintech has achieved a 166% revenue compound annual growth rate during this period, operating across Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. The company, it points out, has built a one-stop solution to facilitate the financial, operational and digital transformation for merchants of all sizes, and is already serving more than 45,000 merchants in the region.
With its open-architecture ecosystem, KPay currently partners with over 150 software-as-a-service providers, banking institutions and financial services firms, and plans to double its partnerships to support even more businesses across Asia in their financial and digital transformation journey.
