Thailand based SYNQA, formerly known as Omise Holdings, raises US$80 million led by Siam Commercial Bank’s digital unit, 10X and and Sparx Group through its Mirai Creation Fund II.
Other investors include Toyota Financial Services, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation among others.
This is the company’s Series C round. Prior to this round, SYNQA had raised US$20 million over several funding rounds from the likes of Japan’s SBI Group and Golden Gate Ventures. It also raised US$25 million via a digital token sale back in 2017.
Founded in 2015, SYNQA acts as the parent company to payment gateway platform, Omise, which facilitates payments via e-wallet, remittance and generally as an acceptance interface when consumers shop online or at retail stores.
It also operates blockchain powered money transfers and payment tools OMG Network.
SYNQA works with thousands of merchants across Southeast Asia, without giving away specific traction figures. Examples? It’s partnered with companies such as PayNow in Singapore and Thailand’s True Money Wallet, as well as Citibank Thailand so that customers can pay with points.
The US$80 million cash injection will be used to power up a new subsidiary to expand the company’s reach and capabilities. Details about the new unit hasn’t been revealed, but it will be geared towards meeting enterprise demands for fintech transformation.
The company will be working with enterprises to develop fintech products, like it did with Toyota’s wallet app.
“Despite these challenging times, I see a lot of opportunities in accelerating digital payments and digital transformation for enterprises,” says Jun Hasegawa, founder and CEO of SYNQA.
Considering the handful of corporate investors in this round, we can imagine the enterprise partnerships that will gradually roll out, SCB as the lead investor in this round is also very telling, and highlights the bank’s commitment to push towards the famous phrase of “digital innovation”.
Our take? This definitely came at the right time, as contactless payments have become more important to our health than ever. In the post-pandemic era, we should continue to see the rise of digital payments, higher adoption rate and hopefully stronger financial infrastructure for Southeast Asian enterprises.
