500 Global-backed Monnai raises $6.5m, tapping into SEA for growth

Monnai founders Ravish Patel (left) and Pierre Demarche / Photo credit: Monnai

US-based Monnai, which provides consumer insights infrastructure for financial institutions and fintech firms, has secured $6.5 million in a series A funding round led by Tiger Global.

This round also saw participation from Better Tomorrow Ventures, which led the company’s US$3.15 million seed round six months earlier, and other existing investors including 500 Global and Emphasis Ventures.

Monnai’s platform integrates data from various sources worldwide and offers tools to help clients solve fraud and regulatory challenges. It delivers four key decisioning modules – know your customer, trust and fraud risk assessment, credit decisioning, and collections optimization – through a single application programming interface.

Monnai was founded in 2021 by Ravish Patel and Pierre Demarche. It reported rapid growth in annual recurring revenue after the first year of operations, and it now has customers in seven key markets across Southeast Asia – where half of its customers are located – in addition to Latin America, India, and the US.

The company also told Tech in Asia that roughly 90% of its team is spread across India, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and that the firm’s doubling down on hiring in this region.

Co-founder Demarche is optimistic about the startup’s potential growth in 2023, especially in emerging markets despite the high risk and limited consumer insights.

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