Clik also announced a series of fresh C-Suite appointments
Phnom Penh, Cambodia-based fintech startup Clik has closed a US$3.7 million seed funding round, the company announced in a statement released yesterday.
Led by Openway and Poems Pte Ltd, an investment holding company of Singapore-based fund manager Phillip Capital, the funding is “Southeast Asia’s largest ever seed round in mobile payments, loyalty programs, data visualisation, business intelligence and cloud data services,” the statement said.
Several global angel investors also participated, the statement added, noting that a third of them were based in Cambodia.
The funding will power Clik’s product engineering and customer service teams, as the 2016-founded startup inches towards an official launch in Cambodia by the end of the year.
Clik had last raised a seed round of $2 million in 2018 from OpenWay Group and Limestone Technology.
Clik is as a point-of-sale (POS) payment aggregator for payments from cards, wallets and bank accounts, through mobile- and software-based POS systems.
It also provides consumer data to its merchant partners, and is developing a platform focused on bolstering merchant profits through consumer loyalty.
“After two years of scaling up and defining the fundamentals of our regional market strategy, we’re ready to accelerate our growth with the closure of our seed round. Our goal here is to offer merchants and consumers a much-needed and attractive digital alternative to cash,” CEO and Co-Founder of Clik, Matthew Tippetts said in the statement.
“The closing of our seed round is a sign that investors are eager to back future proof platforms for the ‘new normal’ that will inevitably exist post-COVID,” he added. “It also shows that investors see attractive opportunities for investment in Cambodia, especially in start-ups with robust regional potential.”
Clik has about 2500 merchants and five financial institutions onboard their beta programs, with additional access to over 56,000 merchants through partners such as Cambodian pharmacy group Ucare Pharmacy, and retailers Kiwimart and Chip Mong Retail, the statement noted.
It added that Clik will be “working closely” with payments software authentication solutions provider MYPINPAD over its Contactless Payments on Commercial Off-the-shelf Solutions (CPoC).
MYPINPAD is the first and only company to have achieved the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council (SSC) certification for its CPoC solution, the statement claimed, adding that Clik will be the first payment company to launch such a certified solution in Southeast Asia.
Moreover, Clik will also be integrating with the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) initiative by the National Bank of Cambodia, the statement further said. Known as Project Bakong, the CBDC is a peer-to-peer platform based on blockchain, and will have its own cryptocurrency.
In addition to the fund, Clik also announced a slew of fresh appointments, with Patrice Vignes as its new Chief Operating Officer, and Olivier Mermet as its new Chief Design & Strategy Officer.
Further, Clik’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer has been promoted to CTO. Former CTO Darren Jensen will remain the company’s blockchain technology advisor.
Vignes will be joining Clik’s board, along with Matthew Maddocks who will be joining as an Independent Director, chairing the Risk and Compliance Committee.
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