Singapore-based “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) FinTech company Pace has raised US$40 million ($54.45 million) in a Series A funding round from a group of Asian investors.
The investors include Japan's Marubeni Ventures, South Korea's Atinum Partners, Taiwan's AppWorks, Indonesia's Alpha JWC, and Singapore's UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and Genesis Alternative Ventures.
Pace currently operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand. It plans to expand into Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
In a Nov 22 press release, Turochas 'T' Fuad, founder and CEO of Pace, says: "This investment from some of the most successful and established investors signals confidence that Pace is a leading BNPL player in Asia. The region is expected to become the world's fastest-growing BNPL market, and this funding supports Pace in achieving its mission of democratising financial services for all.”
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See also: Keeping Pace with the competition
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According to the company, it is on track to achieve gross merchandise value (GMV) run rate of US$1 billion in 2022.
Pace announced its launch in January with veteran entrepreneur Fuad, previously of Travelmob and Spacemob, at its helm. Headquartered in Singapore, the company raised a “high seven-figure” seed round co-led by Vertex Ventures, a Temasek subsidiary, and Indonesia’s Alpha JWC.
Fuad was last at WeWork, where he served as managing director of Southeast Asia and Korea for close to three years before his departure last June. He had joined WeWork after Spacemob — the Singapore-based coworking start-up he founded — was acquired in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.
In June, Pace secured an eight-figure debt financing round led by Genesis Alternative Ventures.
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Currently, Pace allows consumers to split their purchases into three interest-free payments over 60 days. To date, Pace has more than 3,000 points-of-sale across the region.
In August, payments company Square announced its intention to acquire Australian BNPL giant Afterpay for US$29 billion in an all-stock transaction.
