By Poovenraj Kanagaraj
Malaysian-based Fintech startup, Curlec has announced new investments from global venture capital firm, 500 Startups and aims to utilise the capital to expand Malaysian operations through product development, strategic initiatives as well as market expansions.
The startup enables businesses to collect recurring payments and take control of their cash flow. This is done via building technology on top of the Direct Debit bank-to-bank payment infrastructure, which is a system that historically was only accessible to large corporates.
Since its launching in early 2018, Curlec has processed over RM 250 million through its platform.
Despite disruptions caused by Covid-19 to the economy, the startup has seen a surge in traditional businesses, that can no longer transact in person due to the current pandemic, come online.
Additionally, the company has also experienced an acceleration of merchants moving to subscription business models, in order to obtain predictable revenue and combat the threat of huge decreases in cash flow, that may arise from another crisis in the future.
JP Morgan estimates the market size of the subscription economy to rise to over $530 billion in 2020.
“In light of Covid-19, we continue to see growth in our offering, with many traditional businesses having to shift online. Despite the lockdown in Malaysia, we are continuing to average 20% month-on-month growth this year in transaction volumes, which just highlights the current demand that businesses have to move towards online recurring payments. We are thrilled to have a VC like 500 Startups believe in us and support us in this journey,” said Zac Liew, Co-Founder and CEO of Curlec.
“Our vision has always been to enable businesses of all sizes to access the previously
inaccessible Direct Debit system. And now, as the market continues to evolve, we are
expanding our vision further to also help businesses grow by enabling them to enter the subscription economy firstly in Malaysia, and then Southeast Asia,” he added.
