• InstaReM, Southeast Asia’s leading digital cross-border payments company, has announced the first close of its US$ 45 million Series C round, at over US$ 20 million.
• The first close is led by high profile new investors MDI Venture Capital (the venture capital arm of Telkom) and Beacon Venture Capital (the venture capital arm of KASIKORNBANK).
• InstaReM’s Series C round (to be completed in January 2019) will be used to drive growth in new markets, and to support the launch of a new consumer and enterprise product in 2019.

InstaReM, Southeast Asia’s leading digital cross-border payments company, has announced one of the most significant Series C funding rounds for a fintech in Southeast Asian history. The company’s rapid growth has secured a first close of more than US$ 20 million led by new investors MDI Ventures (the VC arm of Indonesia’s Telkom), and Beacon Venture Capital (the VC arm of Thailand’s KASIKORNBANK) and supported by existing investors, Vertex Ventures, GSR Ventures, Rocket Internet and SBI-FMO Fund.

The Series C round of US$ 45 million, which takes the digital remittance fintech’s overall funding to over US$ 63 million, is expected to close by January 2019, in advance of its expected IPO in 2021.

This Series C round will accelerate growth in InstaReM’s existing markets and enable it to enter new markets in Japan and Indonesia, where it is expected to receive licenses by the end of this year. This round will also enable InstaReM to launch a new consumer and enterprise product in 2019 for which the company has aggressive plans.

InstaReM’s next-generation payments platform leverages the latest technology to help its individual and enterprise customers send money to their destinations quicker and at a lower cost than its competitors. With regulatory licenses and approvals in Singapore, Australia, India, Europe, United States, Hong Kong, Canada and Malaysia, and its extensive global banking partnerships, InstaReM is able to reach to over 3.21 billion consumer and business customers across 55+ countries worldwide. InstaReM already powers payments for three of the top ten Southeast Asian banks.

Prajit Nanu, Co-founder & CEO of InstaReM said: “The promise we’ve made to our customers, from day one, is that we’ll always be transparent, and we’ll forever give them the best value we can to help them #DoMore with their money. No matter where they are in the world, and no matter if they’re a business or an individual sending money overseas, it’s been our mission to be their champion. That’s why we were one of the first Asian remittance providers to move outside of Asia, and that’s another reason why we’ve been able to secure this historic round of funding. In less than 4 years, we have become the payment backbone for emerging markets for banks and other global financial institutions.”

Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon Venture Capital (Beacon VC) added: “We have been following InstaReM for some time, and are impressed with the way the company has been expanding globally, and scaling up its operations. As KASIKORNBANK becomes the digital bank of choice for customers, we have a strong commitment to working closely with category leaders in each sector and constantly improving our customer experience.”

InstaReM is a member of RippleNet, Ripple’s global network of banks and other financial institutions, and has recently bagged the Blockchain Innovator Award by Ripple, for its innovations in the payments space.

Starting its operations in Australia in 2015, today, InstaReM has presence across 40 countries/regions including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Canada, Malaysia, India and Europe. InstaReM has created a unique payment mesh in Asia, which is being leveraged by financial institutions, SMEs and individuals to make fast low-cost cross-border payments.

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