MALAYSIAN FINTECH FIRM BAYO PAY RAISES $2.2M IN FUNDING LED BY VENTURETECH SBI

Bayo Pay said in a statement that VentureTECH SBI and VentureTECH Sdn Bhd have invested MYR 7 million ($1.52 million) and MYR 3 million ($650,000) respectively in Bayo Pay.

“The investments will be utilised to fund Bayo Pay’s expansion by onboarding new clients and promote its ancillary digital services,” said Aznul Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer of Bayo Pay.

According to him, the investments will also go a long way in the operations of the company and support the capital expenditure requirements as part of its forward strategies to expand client base, increase collaborative-based income and further deepen its focus in its niche verticals.

“We are thrilled to have both VentureTECH SBI and VentureTECH as our cornerstone institutional investors and we believe this investment validates our business roadmap, as we execute our strategies to leverage on the global surge in use of digital payments,” he said.

According to the statement, this is a maiden investment for VentureTECH SBI, a joint-venture fund management company between VentureTECH and SBI Ventures Malaysia Sdn Bhd (awholly-owned subsidiary of SBI Holdings, Inc Japan), that focuses on venture capital and private equity activities in the Southeast Asia region.

Meanwhile, this marks VentureTECH’s first investment in the Fintech market segments since its inception, and with the addition of Bayo Pay, VentureTECH has invested and committed to invest in 25 technology industry leaders in its targeted high technology and emerging industries, with aggregate investee net worth surpassing the MYR 2 billion ($440 million) mark.

“Our MYR 7 million ($1.52 million) investment will speed up Bayo Pay’s product development cycle through hiring additional talents and client acquisition,” said Mohd Jerry Tan, Principal of VentureTECH SBI.

According to him, Bayo Pay’s various white label products and modular approach allow new solutions or financial products to be rapidly deployed on top of its core offerings, allowing Bayo Pay’s clients to focus on what truly matters, i.e., their products and marketing.

Meanwhile, VentureTECH Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Redzuan Sidek said the MYR 3 million ($650,000) investment is in line with VentureTECH’s mission to support local fintech talents and its impact investment philosophy that aims to generate positive socioeconomic benefits in line with the country’s vision of embracing IR4.0 towards creating a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable growth.

According to him, Bayo Pay’s dynamic and modular solutions grant fast deployment in terms of additional features such as security electronic ID module, customer engagement platform and corporate digital payment solutions.

He noted the additional features are important because through rapid deployment and various available options, Bayo Pay’s clients are able to customize and offer various products that are central to its strategic positioning.

VentureTECH is a government-backed impact investment company established to catalyse the growth of local industries particularly Bumiputera in the high value-added and high-technology industries through equity investment.

The firm was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).

Bayo Pay is a licensed Mastercard non-bank E-money issuer to assist the company in growing its core business and further enhancing its B2B2X white label Digital Payment-as-a-Service solutions to support the growth of local fintech startups in Malaysia.

Bayo Pay focuses on offering integrated end-to-end digital payment solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates with a growing and captive user base.

Bayo Pay’s B2B2X business model allows its clients to access its proprietary technology to develop a scalable private label payment solution accessible via its white-label or embedded payment module.

This enables any fintech startups or corporates to dive into digital financial services at a more efficient cost by accelerating their go-to-market strategy and alleviating regulatory, legal, and technical obstacles while providing flexibility, and ease of product customization and integration.