Versa, Malaysian fintech startup has 8-figure funding

Malaysian digital wealth management app Versa announced on September 5 that it had secured an eight-figure funding round. Regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia, Versa aims to provide various accessible wealth solutions for Malaysians.

An eight-figure funding means Versa could have received funding that is anywhere between $10,000,000 to $99,999,999. However, the exact figure has not been revealed. Vulcan Post also asked about the currency of the financing, but Versa declined to disclose the information.

The funding round was led by Hibiscus Fund, which is a venture capital fund managed by RHL Ventures and KB Investment Co Ltd., the latter a South Korean financial services conglomerate.

Affin Hwang Asset Management, a returning investor and partner of Versa, also participated in this round along with new investors OSK Ventures and Singapore-based HPRY Ventures.

According to Versa’s CEO, Teoh Wei-Xiang, the younger generation has found the app’s ethos of making saving and investing easy, accessible and fun appealing.

“With that, we felt we were ready and in a good position to scale,” he told the Vulcan Post.

Finding your product-market fit

According to the press release, Versa has doubled its transactions since the beginning of 2022. Wei-Xiang believes this was made possible thanks to an adaptation to the product market, especially for Versa Cash, as well as the economic conditions.

“Due to the COVID-19 restrictions of the last two years and the current period of inflation, many prefer to invest in stable low-risk funds, to restore and rebuild their savings for emergencies,” he said.

Versa, a CIP Ignite II grantee under the Cradle Fund, was established in 2020 by a group of fintech entrepreneurs.

The app essentially allows users to save and invest via Versa’s partnership with Affin Hwang Asset Management. Versa users can deposit their money through the app, which will be managed and managed by Versa’s expert fund managers who manage it based on users’ risk appetite.

Versa has two products – Versa Cash and Versa Invest. The former is a savings product while the latter is a risk-based investment portfolio.

The minimum investment amount for Versa Cash and Versa Invest is RM1 and RM10 respectively.

“[Versa Cash] allows Versa users to tap into money market funds traditionally only available to high-net-worth individuals and businesses to achieve stable returns on their idle savings,” said Wei-Xiang.

Essentially, Versa Cash is Versa’s flagship cash management solution that allows users to earn interest on par with fixed deposits (FDs). But it differs from FDs in the sense that there is no restrictive lock-in period with high minimum deposit requirements traditionally required by banks.

On the other hand, Versa Invest gives users access to actively managed portfolios with a combination of passive and active funds.

There are currently two risk categories available for Versa Invest—Versa Moderate and Versa Growth. The Moderate option has a moderate risk rating, while the Growth option has a high risk.

Expand Malaysian investment opportunities

Similar apps have emerged in Malaysia, such as Singapore-based StashAway, which also offers easily accessible savings and investment opportunities.

When asked about that, Wei-Xiang claimed that because of Versa’s partnership with Affin Hwang Asset Management, his startup model is already quite different.

However, StashAway has recently partnered with BlackRock, an American investment management company.

“With our recent funding, we will be able to expand our products and offerings in the near future to further differentiate ourselves from our peers,” he said.

In particular, Versa plans to introduce more investment options with the fresh funds. To do this, Wei-Xiang believes the team needs to increase its workforce and possibly secure more partnerships that can bring value to users, just like the current partnership with Affin Hwang Asset Management.

“Asset Under Management (AUM) has always been a measure of success for global asset managers and we want to expand it further,” he added.

• Read more about Versa here.
• Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.

Featured Image Credit: Versa