Financial marketplace GoBear announces $80m funding

GoBear, a Singapore-based online marketplace for financial products, today revealed that it has secured US$80 million in funding to expand regionally.

The capital comes from the company’s two investors – venture capital firm Walvis Participaties and financial services provider Aegon, both of which are based in the Netherlands.

Photo credit: GoBear

GoBear said it will use the funds for product and tech development as well as to hire personnel and expand its network of financial services partners. To do this, some of the capital may be spent on “partnerships with, and investments into, other technology companies, to acquire access to additional key technology,” said the company in a statement.

The startup is looking to invest in areas including “customer onboarding and fulfillment solutions, personal financial management, alternative credit scoring, financial education, and investment platforms,” said Adrian Chng, GoBear’s CEO. Chng also heads fintech-focused investment firm Fintonia and is a co-founder of Singapore-based startups AsiaKredit and CredoLab.

Online marketplaces for financial products are nothing new. But there’s a unique opportunity for GoBear and its competitors like Experian-backed C88 in Southeast Asia, Chng told Tech in Asia.

“If you think of financial supermarkets in, say, the UK, they position themselves as comparison sites. That business model isn’t 100% applicable here in the regions we’re talking about,” he said.

Developed market consumers tend to have bought things like insurance or loans from a relatively young age, are familiar with leading brands, and generally show plenty of willingness to switch providers if they think they can get a better deal. This stands in contrast to Southeast Asia, where a majority of consumers have never purchased products from financial service providers, Chng explained.

“In Indonesia we have about 3% credit card penetration, in the Philippines it’s something like 5%. So it’s really not about comparing – it’s about, ‘Can I get it?’ Access is a real problem.’

GoBear thinks it can make better matches between people and financial services providers, helping the latter to more accurately assess and price risk.

To do this, it’s collecting a wealth of data on prospective customers. This includes behavioral insights based on an individual’s activity on the GoBear site or on their smartphone, as well as more direct questioning of consumers through surveys. The company generates revenue by selling these leads to financial services providers.

Launched in early 2015, GoBear claims to have served over 40 million users across Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines to date.