Neat, a FinTech Alternative to Banks, Raises USD11M to Fuel International Expansion
HONG KONG, April 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Neat, a Hong Kong-based FinTech company offering modern financial solutions to SMEs and startups, today announced raising a USD11 million Series A funding round. Pacific Century Group (PCG) led the round with participation from Visa, and MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, among others.
With the investment, Neat plans to continue its international expansion to support businesses that trade across borders.
Neat's vision is to enable the entrepreneur economy, starting with multi-currency business accounts that can be opened online with a 15-minutes application, corporate expense cards, and the ability to send and receive money globally.
Additionally, Neat and Visa have entered into a strategic partnership, and in the next few months Neat will begin issuing Visa credit cards aimed at cross-border SMEs.
"Our goal is to offer a truly global solution for businesses that trade across borders, regardless of their size or how long they've been in the market. Corporate credit cards, for example, can be incredibly difficult for young businesses to get," said David Rosa, CEO and Co-Founder of Neat. "We're excited to partner with Visa, one of the leaders in digital payments, to offer a product that hasn't always been accessible to young SMEs."
In the long run, Neat aims to make international trade nearly frictionless by not only offering a way for customers to move money, but also making use of a wide ecosystem of tools that automates their business processes (payroll, accounting, logistics, etc.), to ultimately enable anyone to run an international business with ease.
With a global count of 500M+ startups and other SMEs, funds from this round will be used to further Neat's international expansion. Notably:
- After opening an office in Shenzhen in 2019 targeting Chinese exporters, Neat has just opened a new office in London and is set to kick off local operations in Western Europe to also serve the other side of the market: European entrepreneurs trading with China.
- Neat will further invest into its customer support with the aim of delighting its customers around the clock.
- Neat will continue to develop its customer acquisition channels across South East Asia.
- On top of their current licenses, Neat will be pursuing relevant regulatory licences around the world to fuel their business growth.
To better reflect the cross-border trading nature of its customer base, Neat has also migrated its website domain, from www.neat.hk to www.neatcommerce.com.
"We're proud to support Neat in the company's vision to support entrepreneurs. There is a clear demand for better financial products for SMEs, especially when it comes to cross-border payments and trade, and we're confident that Neat's passionate and innovative team will deliver," said Ryan Collins, Managing Director of MassMutual Ventures.
"We believe in making frictionless cross-border trade a reality for ambitious businesses around the world. This capital injection is going to power our growth in enabling young SMEs to operate smoothly between Europe and Asia," said David Rosa. "The success of this round has been a clear endorsement that we're headed in the right direction."
About Neat
Neat's mission is to enable the entrepreneur economy – starting with fully digital multi-currency accounts built for today's international entrepreneur. The Neat Business Account gives you the ability to send and receive money globally at more competitive exchange rates than you would get from a bank; access Neat corporate expense cards for online and offline spending, as well as ATM withdrawals; it also includes intuitive expense tracking and security features. Learn more at www.neatcommerce.com.
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