Founded in 2021, Singapore startup Pace, offering “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) financing managed to raise US$40 million in funding from investors across Asia.
Joining Pace are Japan’s Marubeni Ventures, South Korea’s Atinum Partners, Taiwan’s AppWorks, Indonesia’s Alpha JWC, Singapore’s UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and Genesis Alternative Ventures.
“(This funding) helps us pave our expansion into Japan, Korea and Taiwan,” said Turochas ‘T’ Fuad, founder and chief executive of Pace and the former managing director of WeWork Southeast Asia and Korea. Currently, Pace operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand with more than 3,000 points-of-sale across the region.
The recently obtained funds will help expand its technology, operations, and business development to boost its user base and the total dollar value of online transactions on its platform. “BNPL will become more prevalent in Asia, and our continuing funding in Pace reaffirms our belief in the strong execution capability of Fuad and his team,” said Chua Joo Hock, managing partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.
Pace is in a space where bigger fintech players like Grab, Atome, and Shopee are gathering firepower. These fintech groups are aggressively expanding their suite of financial service products to win over shoppers in a market of 650 million people and where many have limited access to credit cards. For instance, Grab recently announced several partnerships to increase the adoption of its “Buy Now, Pay Later” service. Meanwhile, Atome has sealed a deal with StanChart for US$500 million of financing.
