Behind GoBear’s surprising and sudden closure

The timing of GoBear’s closure early this month came as a surprise for many reasons, not least because the Singapore-based fintech firm had just raised US$17 million in May last year.

Unable to raise more capital from existing as well as new investors, the financial comparison site – or “financial supermarket” as it liked to be known – made a tough call to close shop.

GoBear was knee-deep in a transition toward becoming a full-fledged financial services platform, but the shift proved to be rocky in the pandemic era. 2020 saw the startup launch several white-label travel insurance products, but as global travel evaporated overnight, so did its plans.

The firm had also been beefing up its digital lending services following its acquisition of digital lender AsiaKredit in May last year. Both endeavors, if done well, had the potential to transform the six-year-old startup into more than just a comparison website.

But a lack of focus, particularly amid the outbreak of Covid-19, may have turned off investors, several industry observers note. “I think they were trying to do too much,” says Vinod Nair, founder and CEO of competing financial comparison site MoneySmart.

“They operate[d] across seven markets in the region… they’re not number one or number two in any of these markets,” says Nair, adding that a lot of these countries had strong local competitors.

In an email statement to Tech in Asia, GoBear investor Aegon said: “After several discussions with all of GoBear’s existing investors and owners, the decision was made to cease operations and close the business.” Aegon is a Dutch multinational life insurance, pensions, and asset management firm.

Was GoBear’s demise a case of growing too fast, too furious? Or did it boil down to bad timing?

Pivoting during a pandemic

Price comparison sites like GoBear, MoneySmart, SingSaver, and ValueChampion help to acquire customers for the banks or financial institutions that they work with, typically earning a fee for every successful referral or sign-up.

In a pandemic that has reduced worker salaries or left many without jobs at all, getting credit cards or health insurance is the last thing on people’s minds. Those that do go out are also doing so less frequently, and many have cut their spending.

Travel insurance was one of our revenue pillars and that basically went away.

Right product, wrong time?

Too much, too fast