AirAsia’s BigPay Closes $100M Funding To Advance Challenger Bank Status

Malaysian FinTech BigPay, a division of AirAsia, wrapped up a $100 million funding round led by South Korean conglomerate SK Group, according to a press release on Friday (Aug. 6).

BigPay Co-founder and CEO Salim Dhanani said that the company is focused on moving closer toward its mission of becoming “one of the largest challenger banks in Southeast Asia.”

The funding round gives the startup a chance to widen its reach, enhance the development of new products and scale operations, Dhanani added.

BigPay is a digital portfolio company of AirAsia and also is one of the top FinTechs in Southeast Asia.

Founded in 2017, BigPay operates in Malaysia and Singapore and offers its customers the ability to use a prepaid debit card that can be used wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

The card is available for use across borders for money transfers, micro-insurance, bill payments and more. Further, users can tap the tool to assist with budgeting and long-term wealth.

Related news: AirAsia To Acquire Gojek’s Thailand Operations In $50M Agreement

“Our mission is to become a leading challenger bank across Southeast Asia. We’ve established ourselves in Malaysia as one of the leading providers of digital banking services, and we want to expand our product sets, along with growing the model, to new markets. Thailand and the wider ASEAN is next, but we’ll be launching key products before that — with fully digital personal loans, transactional lending and an offering for MSMEs,” said Dhanani.

See also: FinTechs Vie For Digital Banking Licenses In Malaysia

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said the collaboration with SK Group builds on the commitment to advance BigPay’s “mission to bring inclusivity to financial services.”

“SK Group is second to none when it comes to innovation and experience, so we truly believe they can share their expertise and know-how so that this investment can mark the beginning of a new exciting digital banking era,” Fernandes said.