Weavr expands to Singapore, bringing embedded finance to the region's businesses
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
Weavr’s radically simpler embedded finance solution aims to help companies redefine business models to become more resilient
SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 2 November 2022 - Weavr, a London-headquartered technology provider that empowers businesses with plug-and-play embedded finance solutions, sets up in Singapore as part of its mission to make embedded financial services available to any digital business.Backed by a US$40m Series A led by American investment firm Tiger Global, the official launch of Weavr in Singapore will be announced this week at the Singapore Fintech Festival at the Singapore Expo, wherein Weavr will be part of the United Kingdom (UK) Trade Mission pavilion led by the UK Department for International Trade.
With rising economic uncertainty, inflation rates at decade highs, and escalating geopolitical tensions, companies need to re-orient their business models to become more resilient. One sure way to do so is to deliver greater value to their existing customer base. Embedded finance can help digital businesses achieve this by providing the relevant financial services at the point they are needed by customers, using the rich data that many such businesses collect and process for their customers. In doing so, digital businesses have the opportunity to add significant new revenue streams from their existing customer base, in other words increasing their revenues without the need to increase their marketing budgets.
According to a report by Bain & Co and Bain Capital, the embedded finance market is predicted to more than double to US$51 billion by 2026. The key driver is the removal of barriers to adoption for non-financial businesses that wish to deliver financial products that enhance customer experiences while also offering immediate opportunities to amplify their revenue per user.
Embedded finance, in a nutshell, is the seamless integration of financial services into the customer journey in non-financial applications wherever they are needed. For example, an application that enables gig workers to find work can also provide them with ways to get paid faster and to help them keep their business finances separate from their personal money. Applications like these that embed financial services intelligently can provide customers with unparalleled convenience and ease of use, thus enhancing the customer experience and building loyalty. With Weavr's radically simplified model, Plug-and-Play Finance, digital businesses can launch and monetise financial services quickly and efficiently, and at a fraction of the cost of the traditional Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) model.
"We're excited to enable digital businesses in Singapore, and in the region for which Singapore is such an effective hub, with the means to seamlessly integrate financial services wherever their customers need them. We see few better opportunities for deploying a significant portion of the US$40m of capital we raised earlier this year to bring the benefits of embedded finance to digital innovators and ultimately to their customers in the region," said Weavr co-founder and CEO, Alex Mifsud.
Aligned with the Financial Services Industry Transformation Map (ITM) 2025 announced in September 2022 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Weavr’s entry into Singapore comes amid an innovation drive powered by embedded finance, which will in turn enable the redefining of business models for greater resilience. This availability of simple solutions to deploy financial services will further enable businesses in Singapore to drive innovation and create more value for all stakeholders. Singapore is well-positioned as a hub for digital and financial innovation in the region and a natural first stop on Weavr's mission to help online businesses and SMEs radically innovate through the simplicity of their embedded financial solution. The move will also enable Weavr to contribute to meaningful advances in financial inclusion, green tech and more, as part of Weavr’s commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.
Weavr's unique Financial Plug-ins represent a simple solution for any business to seamlessly deploy financial services within its own platform with zero heavy lifting. Key benefits include:
● Pre-defined solutions for a range of use cases that reduce time to market to just 5 weeks and take care of compliance, data security and regulation.
● A low-code offering that allows brands to embed services quickly and seamlessly without compromising on quality and security.
● Extensible solutions that enable customers to add new financial services in new markets as they grow.
The British High Commissioner to Singapore, Kara Owen CMG, said, “It is fantastic to see Weavr expanding into Singapore. Their presence here will help more Singaporean businesses – and those in Southeast Asia, as it expands - to seamlessly integrate financial services for their customers. Our financial services trade with Singapore was £1.7bn in 2020. This value is only set to grow as our countries grasp the opportunities of digital trade and technology innovation. The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, which entered into force in June this year, will support more companies to embark upon journeys like Weavr’s. We are delighted to celebrate Weavr’s success.”
“I am delighted to see UK fintech Weavr expand into Southeast Asia with the opening of its office in Singapore as a launchpad into the region,” added Natalie Black, the UK's Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific. “The UK Digital Trade Network powered by Tech Nation are supporting UK companies like Weavr to make the most of the opportunities in Southeast Asia. With a market of 650m people with significant demand for innovative fintech that can make business and everyday lives easier – demand for products like Weavr’s is significant.”
Sam Evans, Director of International at Tech Nation, also said, “As part of the UK government's Digital Trade Network, Tech Nation has worked with over 300 UK tech companies interested in expanding into Southeast Asia. We are delighted to see that Weavr is now launching in the Singaporean market and look forward to continuing to support their growth in this region.”
“We are excited to see continued interest from UK companies to leverage Singapore as a launchpad into Southeast Asia amid the rise in tech demand and digital adoption across the region,” added YC Choy, Vice President and Head of Region (Europe), Singapore Economic Development Board. “We warmly welcome Weavr into Singapore’s fintech community and will continue to work closely with the team to drive innovation and deepen their capabilities to capture new opportunities in the region’s burgeoning fintech sector while enriching the local ecosystem.”
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About Weavr
Weavr enables digital businesses to seamlessly embed financial services into their application via a radically simplified model, called Plug-and-Play Finance. In just a few weeks, businesses can launch and monetise financial services - and at a fraction of the cost of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS).
By making embedded finance accessible to a far wider range of digital businesses, Weavr is helping drive a new wave of expansion in the frontiers of embedded-finance innovation.
Founded in 2018, with offices in London and Malta, the company is backed by renowned names such as Tiger Global, who led its $40-million Series A in 2022 to deepen operations within Europe and expand to the US and Singapore.
