InstaReM closes Series C of US $ 45 million

Fundraise to be one of the largest Series C rounds for a fintech in Southeast Asian history.

1. InstaReM,Southeast Asia’s hottest digital cross-border payments company co-founded by an Indian entrepreneur, has announced the first close of its US$ 45 million (INR 322 crore) Series C round, at over US$ 20 million (INR 143.15 crore).
2. The first close is led by high profile new investors MDI ventures (the venture capital arm of Telkom) and Beacon Venture Capital (the venture capital arm of KASIKORNBANK).
3. InstaReM’s Series C round (to be completed in January 2019) will be used to drive growth in new markets, and to support the launch of a new consumer and enterprise product in 2019.

MUMBAI: InstaReM, Southeast Asia’s leading digital cross-border payments company co-founded by Indian entrepreneur Prajit Nanu, has announced one of the most significant Series C funding rounds in Southeast Asian history. The company’s spectacular growth has secured a first close of more than US$ 20 million (INR 143.15 crore), led by new investors MDI Ventures (the VC arm of Indonesia’s Telkom) and Beacon Venture Capital (the VC arm of Thailand’s KASIKORNBANK) and supported by existing investors Vertex Ventures, GSR Ventures Rocket Internet and SBI-FMO Fund.

This historic Series C of US$ 45 million (INR 322 crore), which will take the InstaReM’s overall funding to over US$ 63 million (INR 451 crore), is expected to close by January 2019, in run-up to the company’s expected IPO in 2021.

This Series C round will accelerate growth in InstaReM’s existing markets and enable it to enter new markets in Japan and Indonesia, where the company is expected to receive licenses by the end of this year. This round will also enable InstaReM to launch a new consumer and enterprise product in 2019 for which the company has aggressive plans.

InstaReM's next-generation payments platform leverages the latest technology to help its individual and enterprise customers send money to their destinations quicker and at a lower cost than its competitors. With regulatory licenses/approvals in Singapore, Australia, India, Europe, United States, Hong Kong, Canada and Malaysia and its global banking partnerships, InstaReM is able to reach out to 3.21 billion consumer and business customers across 55+ countries worldwide. InstaReM already powers payments for three of the top ten Southeast Asian Banks.

Prajit Nanu, Mumbai-bred co-founder & CEO of InstaReM said:

“The promise we’ve made to our customers, from day one, is that we’ll always be transparent, and we’ll forever give them the best value we can to help them #DoMore with their money. No matter where they are in the world, and no matter if they’re a business or an individual sending money overseas, it’s been our mission to be their champion. That’s why we were one of the first Asian remittance providers to move outside of Asia, and that’s another reason why we’ve been able to secure this historic round of funding. In less than 4 years, we have become the payment backbone for emerging markets for banks and other global financial. We are still a young firm, but a hungry one, this new round of funding enables us to accelerate growth by launching new products.”

Nicko Widjaja, CEO of MDI Ventures said:

“We see that InstaReM has strong capability to enable cross-border payment and remittance between Indonesia and its international partners. By providing the lowest exchange rates among competing services, InstaReM provides significant value to both local and foreign migrant workers looking to transfer funds to their home countries and to local businesses looking to conduct trade with international parties with the hope that they can boost/stimulate international trade exports. With Indonesia’s fintech sector experiencing peak levels of growth, we believe that it is the ideal time for fintech companies, such as InstaReM, to focus on expansion throughout the country. As part of our thesis at MDI Ventures, we are keen to support InstaReM with their expansion in Indonesia and ASEAN through strategic partnership with various Telkom business units around the region.”

Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon Venture Capital (Beacon VC), added:

"We have been following InstaReM for some time, and are impressed with the way the company has been expanding globally, and scaling up its operations. As KASIKORNBANK becomes the digital bank of choice for customers, we have a strong commitment to working closely with category leaders in each sector and constantly improving our customer experience."

The winner of Fintech Rising Star Award at the India Fintech Festival 2017, InstaReM has recently bagged the Blockchain Innovator Award from Ripple, for its innovations in the payments space.