Southeast Asian fintech startup Jirnexu—the region’s only full stack fintech solutions provider—has closed an US$11 million Series B round. Making their second investment in Jirnexu, Japan-based SBI Group led the latest round, joined by new US-based investor SIG Asia Investments (SIG).
With total funding now US$17 million, Jirnexu is among the best funded startups in Malaysia.
Yuen Tuck Siew, CEO of Jirnexu said, “Jirnexu has been growing rapidly since our last funding round, achieving 100 per cent year-on-year growth in 2017. We will do that again in 2018. Already serving over 30 financial service institutions in Malaysia, this round of funding will enable us to accelerate our work with banks, life insurers and general insurers. Our aim is to cover the entire consumer personal finance market and simplify all aspects of our customers’ journey.”
Jirnexu’s proprietary XpressApply technology automates marketing, sales and delivery of complex financial products for financial service institutions (FSIs)—banks and insurance companies. It is integrated with Jirnexu’s consumer-facing online financial aggregators (OFAs), RinggitPlus in Malaysia and KreditGoGo in Indonesia, which offer consumers a single online resource to compare banking, life insurance and general insurance products. Together, XpressApply and the OFAs form a full stack platform to attract, retain and monetise customers through digital channels.
In partnership with RHB Bank, Jirnexu launched Southeast Asia’s first chatbot for processing personal loans online in 2017. The XpressApply Chatbot extends the capabilities of Jirnexu's platform, allowing businesses and brands to engage with customers in their preferred messaging app, and assess and process their requests quickly and easily. Jirnexu is now launching the XpressApply Chatbot with five more banks - Maybank, Public Bank, AEON, UOB, and Japan Credit Leasing on RinggitPlus.com.
Siew continued, “The next stage of our technology roadmap will address continuing pains points for FSIs, including consumer digital identification and eKYC (electronic know your customer), enabling us to provide highly personalised and relevant financial products anytime, anywhere. In the coming year, Jirnexu will automate digital risk assessment and customer verification, processes that are hindered by a lack of data and manual, paper-based methods.”
“To support our growth, we’re on the lookout for a RinggitPlus CTO, Digital Marketing Head, as well as business unit leaders who can drive our expansion across technology innovation, FSI acquisition and management, and consumer financial services,” Siew concluded.
Ryosuke Hayashi, CEO and Managing Director of SBI Ven Capital, said, “SBI appreciates the complexity of financial services—with each vertical and product having its own potential for digital disruption. Jirnexu continues to demonstrate unique value in their goal to lead across all verticals and stages of the value chain—an exciting endeavour in one of the world’s fastest growing mobile-first markets.”
RinggitPlus works with the largest number of banks and insurers, and provides the widest range of online consumer financial products, compared to any other Malaysian OFA. It is also Malaysia’s first online marketplace for insurance products, selling, processing payments, and issuing e-policies. The site is the leading Malaysian OFA, attracting two times more visitors than the second largest OFA over the last six months1.
In Q42017 global investment in fintech companies hit US$8.7 billion, with US$748 million invested in Asian companies. Frost & Sullivan estimates that the APAC fintech market will reach US$72 billion in 2020.