Lippo Group invests $3.3m in fintech startup Moolahgo’s pre-series A round

Moolahgo, a Singapore-based fintech startup, has raised US$3.3 million in a pre-series A funding round.

Photo credit: Moolahgo

The latest tranche for the round came from Lippo Group, Moolahgo’s majority shareholder, in the June quarter. This is Lippo Group’s second capital injection to support the startup’s expansion plans, a Moolahgo spokesperson told Tech in Asia.

Indonesian services giant Lippo Group established digital payments firm Ovo in 2016 and turned it into one of the country’s unicorns.

Moolahgo will use the fresh funds to drive the startup’s expansion into the retail digital payments segment, which will be spearheaded by eWallet, its recently launched transnational payment platform. The expansion into retail payments is backed by the firm’s experience in dealing with business-to-business multicurrency cross-border payments services.

Moolahgo’s eWallet app allows users to send money and make payments to 40 countries and has a network of over 1,000 banks and agents.

The company’s gross transaction value for the financial year ended March 2021 grew over 700%, year on year, to nearly US$370 million.

Founded in 2017, Moolahgo is one of the first fintech startups to receive five of the seven new licenses from the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the payment services act. This includes licenses for account issuances, domestic money transfers, cross-border money transfers, e-money issuances, and money-changing services.

Moolahgo will kick off its series A funding at the start of next year. It is aiming to raise between US$10 million and US$20 million for the round. “The series A funds will be used to further develop our cross-border infrastructure between Singapore and Indonesia and establish a one-of-a-kind payment capability between the two countries,” said the company’s spokesperson.

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Given the drift toward cashless payments, spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, the size of Asia’s payment industry may reach more than US$1 trillion by 2023, said the company.

As vaccination rates climb and countries gear up to reopen borders, Moolahgo is eyeing the opportunity that increased activity and international spending can bring, said John Hakim, CEO and founder of Moolahgo.