Omise and its investors deny the startup was acquired by Thai conglomerate for $150m

Crypto news site The Block reported that Thai payments and blockchain startup Omise had been acquired for US$150 million by CP Group, a major Thai conglomerate with over US$40 billion in revenue.

Omise has denied the story, which cited anonymous sources. “We would like to confirm that this information is false […] We have reached out to The Block to rectify the article and take the necessary actions,” the company tweeted.

“There is no such deal,” Willson Cuaca, managing partner of East Ventures, tells Tech in Asia. East Ventures has been an investor in Omise since 2014, and Cuaca has a board seat. (Disclosure: East Ventures is an investor in this publication.)

“CP never approached Omise about this deal,” says Sam Tanskul, managing director of Krungsri Finnovate, which also invested in the company.

Omise co-founders Don Harinsut (L) and Jun Hasegawa (R) / Photo credit: Omise

Omise is one of the more prominent blockchain companies in Asia. It has raised over US$45 million from a mix of venture capital rounds and an initial coin offering.

The Block does not plan to retract the article. “We stand by all of our reporting, particularly when we have numerous independent sources confirming a particular piece of information,” tweeted Mike Dudas, founder and CEO of the media company, who previously worked at Disney, Google, PayPal, and Venmo.

Frank Chaparro, the reporter who broke the story, said that Omise “had weeks to confirm” the news. Many attempts were made to reach out to various people in the startup, The Block tells Tech in Asia. Additional sources had verified the report since it went up, claims Chaparro, a former Business Insider journalist.

Omise did not address Tech in Asia’s question about whether it had responded to Chaparro’s request for comment.

The company provides a digital payments gateway incorporating an e-wallet and cross-border remittances. It also operates OmiseGo, a blockchain network that allows users to transfer money without needing a bank account or paying high transaction fees.