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Singapore and Thailand-headquartered Southeast Asian payments platform 2C2P has announced the launch of its investment arm that will make strategic investments in companies in the payments and related sectors.
The new investment arm – 2C2P.VC – is headquartered in Singapore and will be led by Eva Weber. The aim of the VC arm is to further accelerate the growth of the company’s omni-channel payments platform, according to the announcement.
The VC arm will primarily focus on strategic partnerships and investments in complementary businesses that offer opportunities for further vertical integration and geographic expansion outside of 2C2P’s core markets.
“There are a number of companies were we see a strong strategic fit – either due to existing new technologies, complementary products, or geographic presence in markets were we want to be in the future,” said 2C2P Founder and Group CEO Aung Kyaw Moe.
Founded in 2003, 2C2P enables its merchants to receive payments from a range of issuers and through a network cash-acceptance points across Southeast Asia. It has dual headquarters in Singapore and Bangkok and operates across countries in Southeast Asia, North Asia, the US, and Europe.
The launch of 2C2P.VC comes on the back of the company’s successful $52-million funding, led by an international consortium of investors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Centro Ventures, and Arbor Ventures in late 2019. The round raised 2C2P’s total funding to $70 million.
“With our latest funding round in 2019, we are now in the position to invest in such companies and partner with them even more closely going forward,” Moe added.
The launch of the venture capital arm also comes as a number of payments and fintech firms in Asia have attracted investor interests. Early this month, Hong Kong-based fintech startup Neat announce that it raised $11 million in its Series A funding round to finance its international expansion.
Philippine-based fintech firm Voyager, the operator of payments platform PayMaya, also received $120 million from existing investors.