A fintech proposal flop

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Hello reader,

I can imagine only a few things worse than being proposed to in public.

Lots of folks may disagree with me on this due to the proliferation of public marriage proposal videos across the internet, but I still don’t get the appeal of broadcasting this supposedly private moment to everyone around you or millions of strangers on the internet.

If I were to receive a public marriage proposal, I would most likely say “yes” on the spot, no matter how I felt about it, just to avoid the public spectacle a “no” would bring. I suspect many people are in the same boat, but probably not the leaders of MoneySmart.

A merger and acquisition offer is somewhat like a marriage proposal in that making it publicly is a risky strategy. Today’s featured story looks at MoneyHero’s very public proposal to acquire MoneySmart, which was very publicly rejected. Read on to discover why.

Today we look at:

• Why the MoneyHero-MoneySmart wedding isn’t happening
• Singapore police investigating ecommerce firm Qoo10
• Other newsy highlights such as fintech platform Helicap closing its largest credit facility ever and Ryde facing a stock value crash

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A matter of money

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Two companies that both use the word “money” as a prefix to their names might seem like a match made in heaven, but it seems not to be the case for MoneySmart and MoneyHero.

Personal finance platform MoneyHero recently made a non-binding US$8 million bid to acquire MoneySmart, which did not go over well.

• Cut price: The two firms have long been competitors in both Singapore and Hong Kong, offering deals on credit cards, insurance products, and personal loans on their platforms. The offer was seen as a lowball proposal by MoneySmart, which was valued at US$161 million in a reverse valuation deal in 2023 that was later called off.
• Atypical: The way the bid was presented raised MoneySmart’s hackles. MoneyHero extended the offer via a public press release instead of the usual way M&A deals take place – with discussions with the shareholders of the target company to find a reasonable price. Vinod Nair, founder and CEO of MoneySmart, rejected the offer in a LinkedIn post and told Tech in Asia that to his knowledge, the offer had not been presented to shareholders before the publication of the press release.
• By the numbers: MoneyHero expects to reach profitability this year and top US$100 million in annual revenue. The firm has been ramping up its marketing efforts to acquire customers recently. These attempts appear to have been costly, however, with the company’s adjusted EBITDA quarterly losses in Q1 2024 hitting US$6.4 million, from -US$300,000 in the same quarter in 2023.

Read more: MoneyHero’s $8m gambit: bold move or blunder?

Legal drama at Qoo10 rumbles on

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