Fintech Firm Jirnexu Closes Series A with US$4.5M – Embarks on Series B
SINGAPORE & KUALA LUMPUR, 23 March 2017 — Malaysian-based, Southeast Asian focused fintech start-up Jirnexu – Asia’s only full stack fintech solutions provider – has closed Series A with an additional US$1.5 million in funding, following the US$3 million raised in H1 2016. This brings Jirnexu’s total funding, including its seed round, to US$6.0 million. The latest funding round was led by existing investor DMP, with participation by new investors Gobi Partners and OSK Ventures International Berhad (“OSKVI”).
Jirnexu’s full stack technology provides banks and insurance companies with a solution that manages every stage of the customer journey – marketing, acquisition, fulfilment usage and retention. The company counts global and regional financial institutions such as Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, AIA, Zurich, Manulife and U4Life, as well as local banks BSN and RHB, among its customers.
Sales commissions for consumer banking and insurance products in Southeast Asia alone are worth US$25 billion per year[1]. Jirnexu is also targetting the US$35 billion worth of multi-channel and distribution financial technology budgets in EMEA[2] with an XpressApply white-label solution.
XpressApply, Jirnexu’s proprietary platform, is the key technology driver within the full stack solution. XpressApply disrupts conventional methods of selling banking and insurance products, enabling financial institutions to offer unique value propositions to online and mobile-first consumers efficiently and at scale. It also offers analytics for targeted strategies to fulfil and maximize the value of a consumer’s relationship over many years. XpressApply helps banks increase ROI on marketing investment by up to 300% by doubling conversions and productivity.
In closing Series A, Jirnexu has now embarked on Series B, with a target to complete the round by early 2018. Funding from Series B will cement the leadership position of RinggitPlus.com, Jirnexu’s online financial aggregator in Malaysia. The funds will accelerate the development of its technology solutions and implementation in its priority markets – Malaysia and Indonesia.
Yuen Tuck Siew, CEO of Jirnexu said: “RinggitPlus.com has grown to be Malaysia’s largest digital customer acquisition channel for banks, attracting more visitors than all other comparison sites combined. By leveraging XpressApply, banks in Malaysia have digitally issued over 40,000 credit cards and disbursed over RM150 million worth of unsecured personal loans to-date.
“Operating the only end-to-end technology platform for digital customer acquistion has enabled RinggitPlus.com to grow faster and larger than any other player. There is no way for competitors, or banks that rely on traditional people and paper-based sales processes, to scale to our size.
“Apart from expediting our rollout of XpressApply in both markets, we will focus on developing a proprietary risk scoring capability to provide better matching of consumer risk profiles with lenders and insurers.
“Having solved the customer on boarding problem, Jirnexu is now looking at why the majority of consumers in Southeast Asia do not have access to credit, and are either uninsured or underinsured. Our technology platform and customer data analytics uniquely positions Jirnexu to solve fundamental challenges with financial inclusion,” Siew concluded.
Southeast Asia is trending toward mobile-first services. A McKinsey study on ASEAN consumers showed growing acceptance of purchasing financial products and services via digital means, with 40% to 50% of respondents indicating they would consider opening an account with a bank without a physical network[3].
Patrick Yee, Executive Director of OSKVI said: “Jirnexu has proven its ability to leverage technology to scale its business model in emerging markets where fintech innovation is increasingly important. We are pleased to be on board this journey towards enhancing fintech innovations and offerings in the region.”
Victor Chua, Vice President of Gobi Partners added: “More importantly, the team understands consumer behaviour and hence allows Jirnexu to better support financial institutions in resolving the acquisition challenges faced in these markets. This funding will support the team in its leadership vision for Malaysia and beyond.”
Jirnexu owns and operates RinggitPlus in Malaysia and KreditGoGo in Indonesia. Its financial comparison sites see over 1 million visitors per month, with a database of more than 550,000 consumers.
About Jirnexu
Jirnexu enables banks, insurance companies and service providers to think mobile-first and innovate the way they generate leads online, turn those leads into customers, handle their fulfilment, and keep them loyal. Consumers are empowered by Jirnexu’s financial comparison tools to save money and make better decisions. Founded in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the company enjoys the unique position of being Asia’s only full stack fintech solutions provider. Jirnexu’s partners include Citibank, HSBC, Alliance Bank, Standard Chartered, BSN, Public Bank, RHB, UOB, AEON, AmBank, UforLife, Manulife, Manulife, Allianz, Zurich, U Mobile, and many more.