Spenmo, Summit, and new growth after a rocky year

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Hello reader,

Have you ever had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?

Some days are just rubbish – you sleep through your alarm, you miss the bus, you splatter spaghetti sauce on your white T-shirt, it rains and you don’t have an umbrella, your boss yells at you, someone ate the last piece of chocolate in the pantry, etc. There’s bad vibes all around, and all you want to do is go home and curl up in bed.

Sometimes, these terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days can feel like they stretch out for weeks or even months. That certainly seemed to be the case for Digital Services SG Five – the parent firm of fintech platform Spenmo – which had a pretty rough 2023.

However, things do seem to be picking up for the company, especially with the launch of its new brand, Summit.

Today we look at:

• The launch of Summit, brought to you by Spenmo’s parent company
• Foxconn’s latest investment into Vietnam
• Other newsy highlights such as where Peak XV Partners has its eye on and a past data breach at OpenAI.

Premium summary

Spenmo to get to the Summit

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Spenmo’s parent firm has announced the launch of Summit, which offers two products for clients: a vendor invoice management tool and an employee expense management solution.

Let’s take a look at the journey to get to this point.

• Background details: Digital Services SG Five secured US$85 million in funding in January 2022. However, the year that followed was thorny, with sudden changes in the lineup of its C-suite executives, embezzlement rumors, and the closure of its operations in the Philippines. These events culminated in September 2023 when the company laid off around 60 to 70 people.
• S&S: Summit is differentiating itself from Spenmo by focusing on being a smart accounts payable workflow tool. This complements Spenmo’s spend management software, which offers services such as bill payments, corporate cards, reimbursements, and automated bookkeeping.
• Looking forward: It’s been a rough period for Spenmo’s parent company and its team, but acting CEO and chief product officer Jo-ann Chung says that morale is high, as anticipation for Summit’s launch continues to build internally. She says that transparency, open communication, and clarity on the company’s direction have been crucial in keeping Digital Services SG Five on an even keel.

Read more: Spenmo parent launches new brand after rocky 2023

Eyes on Vietnam

You’ll regret missing this. (Seriously.)

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