Behind MoneyHero’s aggressive plan to beat – then buy – its rival

An unsolicited offer from MoneyHero Group to acquire rival MoneySmart in August drew eyeballs and a barrage of criticism.

But this was just the tip of the iceberg: Those familiar with MoneyHero say the undercurrents of this move began roughly a year ago.

In October 2023, the financial comparison site went public on the Nasdaq via a merger with BridgeTown Holdings – the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel and Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li.

Tech in Asia’s interviews with half a dozen ex-MoneyHero employees reveal some of the company’s assertive tactics to beat its competition in its efforts to hit a profitability goal by the end of 2024.

It sought exclusive contracts with commercial partners – though with limited success – and tried to undercut MoneySmart, a key competitor in Singapore and Hong Kong. MoneyHero also attempted to poach MoneySmart’s employees, its rival claims.

They also lay bare a firm whose board appears to have overstepped its conventional responsibilities at times. 

Several senior leaders, including those who led the firm to list last year, have departed since the start of 2024. 

See also: MoneyHero’s $8m gambit: bold move or blunder?

So far, the company’s share price does not reflect these efforts. Since opening at US$5.39 on its first day of trading last October, MoneyHero’s shares are down by around 78%.

A board member’s outsized role

MoneyHero’s SPAC listing was meant to “accelerate growth” and tap into the “fast-growing” market of distributing financial products in Southeast Asia, Prashant Aggarwal, the company’s then CEO, said in 2023.

But the deal brought about a slew of other changes as well.

These included modifications to the firm’s board of directors. It also shifted the concentration of leadership and voting power into fewer hands.

Pacific Century Group (PCG), a significant shareholder at MoneyHero prior to its listing, became the majority shareholder after the firm went public on the Nasdaq.

“Big sea of change”

“Project Killbill”

A question of sustainability