Dollarsmart Global To Raise $20M For ASEAN Expansion

Singapore-based DollarSmart Global (DSG) is pinning its hopes on an upcoming $20 million cash injection to help strengthen its operations and expand in its core ASEAN countries, after which it will turn its attention to African markets, particularly South Africa and Nigeria.

The KPMG-led funding round will be the first for the company, which to date has survived solely on funds from its co-founders — CEO Dwight Willis and CTO Haldane Marnoch — and from internal resources, it was reported Friday (Aug. 27).

Willis explained that the funding will help DSG finalize license acquisitions in several ASEAN markets, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. “We are building an ASEAN-wide transfer footprint that will further position us as unique in those countries,” he noted.

“With growth of over 650% in revenues in 2020, the business is ready for even more rapid expansion, and we will use the funds to acquire and activate new licenses in the region, as well as to build out new products and expand our talent,” Willis added, boasting of a proprietary technology that is “highly scalable, modular, reliable, lightweight and fast.”

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Founded in 2014, the FinTech startup provides an international money transfer service for people and corporations at competitive exchange rates and with no fees or charges. The company has processed over 850,000 transactions worth $240 million, and currently has a presence in 81 countries.

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Aside from its expansion plans, DSG is targeting the launch of new products, including TravelSmart, a digital wallet for tourists visiting the region post-Covid 19, and PaySmart, a platform dedicated to e-commerce payments.

The company is also a licensed money service operator in Hong Kong under the trade name HKDSmart and a licensed remitter in Australia known as AUDSmart.