Singapore fintech startup Aspire raises $158m Series B

Singapore-based fintech startup Aspire announced raising $158 million in Series B funding to double down on its all-in-one finance operating system for growing businesses in Southeast Asia.

The oversubscribed $158 million round was led by an unnamed global growth equity firm. It was also backed by new investors DST Global Partners, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital Partners, and global hedge fund Fasanara Capital.

Existing investors, including Hummingbird Ventures, Mass Mutual Ventures, Picus Capital, and AFC also participated in the round, as per the announcement.

A number of fintech founders also participated in the funding round. These include Taavet Hinrikus (Co-Founder of Wise), Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi (Co-Founders of Qonto), Pierpaolo Barbieri (Founder of Uala), Moses Lo (Co-Founder of Xendit), Hendra Kwik (Co-Founder of Payfazz), and Gerry Colyer (Co-Founder of Clara).

Founded in January 2018 by former Lazada executives, Aspire currently operates across markets such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam.

The startup is building a scalable marketplace of banking infrastructure that leverages third-party financial service providers to create a digital banking experience for its SME customers.

“We see a world dominated by integrated platforms across various business functions such as Salesforce for Sales or Slack for Communication. We believe the same is happening for Finance and we are here to build the operating system for the SouthEast Asia digital economy,” said Andrea Baronchelli, CEO and co-founder of Aspire.

With the fresh funding, Aspire said it plans to double down on existing markets while building the foundations to serve growing business clients across the whole Southeast Asia region.

“We build value for our customers by saving time, saving money, and boosting their growth,” Baronchelli added.

Aspire is headquartered in Singapore with teams in Indonesia and Vietnam.

The startup operates in a region with 10 million internet businesses and and an internet economy worth over $300 billion.