If you were an avid traveller, chances are you would have used YouTrip one way or another.
The Southeast Asian neobank is the region’s first and leading multi-currency wallet, which simplifies foreign currency exchange and offers the best exchange rates for users.
Today (November 30), YouTrip announced that it has raised US$30 million in funding in its latest Series A round. The round is driven by returning investors from major Asian family offices and prominent financial technology investors.
With this new injection of funds, the company has now raised over US$60 million in funding in total since its launch in 2016.
According to YouTrip, the new capital will supercharge the company’s technological capabilities to bolster its suite of payment products, in particular entering the adjacent B2B payments space, as well as accelerating its entrance
into the wider Southeast Asia.
“As a company, this latest round also gives us the resources to strengthen our multiple growth engines to
stay resilient and well-primed for expansion into new vistas,” said Caecilia Chu, co-founder and CEO of YouTrip.
Transaction volumes bounced back to pre-Covid levels
When the pandemic hit, YouTrip had to quickly pivot since the borders shut down and travelling was halted. YouTrip put their focus on e-commerce, which has paid off in leaps and bounds.
To date, YouTrip’s transaction volume has rebounded to pre-Covid levels. Their card transaction exceeds US$800 million, with almost 20 million transactions and over 1.5 million app downloads.
This is driven by strong traction in cross-border e-commerce transactions and return of travel spending. With the Vaccinated Travel Lanes coming in full force, YouTrip expects exponential growth in upcoming months.
We have transformed tremendously as a company since our last funding round. From a mobile travel wallet, we have grown to establish a strong foothold in new territories such as overseas online spending to meet the extraordinary shifts in consumer behaviours.
We believe there is untapped potential in cross-border payments, and our market-leading position in this space puts us in a good place to serve more of our users’ payment needs — from travellers, to online
shoppers, and now, businesses.– Caecilia Chu, co-founder and CEO of YouTrip
YouBiz, a corporate card for businesses
Besides accruing e-commerce deals for users, YouTrip has also been keeping itself busy by catering to businesses.
According to YouTrip, the B2B industry — which is expected to be worth US$150 trillion by 2022 — is ripe with potential.
YouTrip’s new corporate credit card, YouBiz, offers higher spending limits while transacting at the best exchange rates in more than 150 currencies and credit terms offered to selected business account users.
Companies can also issue corporate cards to employees, with all expenses streamlined into one platform.
“By incorporating our company’s core strengths of offering the best exchange rates and an extremely easy to use interface into YouBiz, we help businesses save time and cost so that they can focus their energy and efforts in finding growth,” said Arthur Mak, co-founder of YouTrip.
The YouBiz corporate card has received more than 1,000 sign-ups to date.
It will be rolled out in Singapore in the first quarter of 2022, with plans to bring it to five other Southeast Asia countries in the next 12 months.
App updates for 2022 and an all expenses-paid trip
The company’s rewards platform, YouTrip Perks, which offers cashback and deals from top merchants such as Taobao, Amazon and Singapore Airlines, has recorded a 150 per cent increase in transactions since its launch in September.
For a better user and payment experience, they will also be refreshing its app with new features such as a virtual card, an interactive exchange rates dashboard, and the ability to hold more popular currencies in their wallet for a more seamless payment experience.
These changes will be launched in early 2022.
YouTrip has also launched its VTL Holiday Away campaign to bring more value to their overseas trips.
From today till December 31, YouTrip users will get a chance to receive a cashback of up to S$100 when they pay using YouTrip for overseas spending. A grand prize of an all-expenses-paid VTL trip worth up to S$5,000 will also be awarded to one selected user.
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Featured Image Credit: YouTrip