After ‘painful failure’ with her first firm, her new one is topping Singapore’s app charts

Things are moving fast at Caecilia Chu’s new startup.

She launched multicurrency travel e-wallet YouTrip last August, and within nine months the CEO had secured US$25.5 million in funding, thereby bagging one of Southeast Asia’s largest ever early-stage startup investments.

And now, at the 10-month mark, the app has just crossed one million transactions, she tells Tech in Asia.

Caecilia Chu / Photo credit: YouTrip

The service works with a mix of its app and a prepaid card that’s issued to new users. Customers can top up the card from their bank accounts so that it’s ready to be used when traveling overseas. The app can convert money in more than 150 currencies and shows important user info like their prepaid amount and all their transactions.

The card works wherever Mastercard is accepted, and it additionally proves useful in Singapore for transit rides.

Earning trust

Chu, 36, ascribes her firm’s traction among consumers and the speed of its progress to having some big-name working partners. Apart from payments giant Mastercard, there’s the Monetary Authority of Singapore and EZ-Link, Singapore’s public transport card.

When a startup like hers is getting off the ground, convincing people to entrust their hard-earned money is “one of the biggest challenges,” says Chu. “It’s a high entry barrier,” she adds.

And so those reputable partners were vital.

Indeed, Hong Kong-born Chu chose Singapore for the app’s initial launch precisely because of those partnerships.

The co-founder also feels that zeitgeist-y personal finance apps like UK-based Monzo pushed investors to seek similar fintech startups in Southeast Asia, and that drummed up venture capital interest in Chu’s startup from the outset.

YouTrip’s service is only open to Singaporeans so far, and it’s getting a decent reception from consumers. The app is consistently in the top five most downloaded finance apps in the nation on both iOS and Android in the past few months, including periods in the top spot, according to App Annie data.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

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