Fintech Aspire raises $158 million in Series B round

Aspire has nearly 10,000 business accounts and a total of about $2 billion in transactions annually

Singapore-based neobank Aspire, wanting to be the end-to-end financial operating system for Southeast Asian business, is approaching that goal with a $158 million Series B round. The round consisted of $58 million in shares and another $100 million, with participation from DST Global Partners, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital Partners and repeaters Mass Mutual Ventures, Picus Capital and AFG, and private growth equity investors. Debt capital was provided by hedge fund Fasanara Capital.

The round also included angel investors from several fintech startups including Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, Qonto co-founders Alexandre Port and Steve Anavi, Uala founder Pierpaolo Barbieri, Xendit co-founder MosesLo, Payfazz co-founder Hendra Kwik, Clara co-founder Gerry Colyer and EY’s global emerging market fintech leader Varun Mittal.

Aspire was founded in 2018 to provide working capital loans to small businesses, but earlier this year it began adopting a multi-product strategy. Today, the company’s portfolio of services includes bank accounts for cross-border businesses, corporate cards, and automated invoice processing, all connected to financial management software.

Aspire has nearly 10,000 business accounts and a total of about $2 billion in transactions annually.

Founder and CEO Andrea Baronchelli told TechCrunch: You can access your accounts and cards, but they don’t use software. By combining them, our vision goes beyond the concept of digital banking and basically this banking product and software. It is to create an operating system that coexists.

Apart from Singapore, Aspire also operates in Indonesia and Vietnam, laying the foundation for expansion into other Southeast Asian markets, including regulation.

Baronchelli states that the average SME uses seven providers for bank accounts, credit solutions, forex, invoices, payroll management and accounting, based on the company’s product research and company interviews. Aspire’s goal is to be a one-stop, end-to-end solution for small businesses. Most Aspire customers sign up when they need their first business account or corporate card and start using other products as they grow.

For large SMEs that already have a business account, Aspire seeks to draw attention with value-added products such as expense management software and credit solutions.

Aspire’s working capital loans typically start at around $50,000 and can grow up to $300,000, but customers can customize them as their business grow.