One of the oldest fintech startups in Singapore has raised its series B

Photo credit: prykhodov / 123RF.

Fintech is the word of the day for a lot of people in the startup ecosystem, but there are players who were there before the term even existed. Singapore-based startup MC Payment was founded in 2005 to provide payments solutions to businesses and consumers.

Back then, fintech wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t around. The company (whose name stands for “Mobile Credit Payment”) was trying to crack payment through mobile, before the world knew what a smartphone was.

“We were developing on feature phones, like Nokia and Motorola,” founder and CEO Anthony Koh tells Tech in Asia. “We were too early,” he laughs.

Regardless, MC Payment is just in time for its series B round, worth US$4.5 million. The round is led by private equity firm ESW Manage and private investment company DZW Capital. The round was joined by other investors like Singaporean venture capital firm Golden Equator Capital.

MC Payment will use the funding to expand to other markets in Asia-Pacific, including Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. The company is currently operational in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia.

The funding will also help the firm further develop its payment products, particularly its business-to-business supply chain and online invoicing system called Xaavan. The product targets merchants and supply companies.

Under the radar

The Singaporean company has largely kept quiet over the past few years but has been growing at a steady pace. Its revenue has grown “in the double digits” during the past year, although Anthony doesn’t reveal any numbers.

MC Payments’ other products include Ffastpay, a mobile point-of-sale system for retailers and merchants; MatchCab, a payment system for taxi companies that’s integrated into their booking systems; and non-cash payment and e-wallet systems, partnering with payment schemes like MasterPass and NETS.

While payments is a crowded space with many large and small players, Anthony feels that MC Payment’s ability to offer a diverse range of products and to move quickly is what gives the company an edge in the market. It has certainly contributed to its longevity as well.

“We’ve proven we have the ability to adapt and to change,” he says.

Converted from Singapore dollars. US$1 = S$1.35