TikTok’s e-commerce arm struck a partnership with Advance Intelligence Group, a financial technology startup, to expand its online retail push in Malaysia.
Advance Intelligence, backed by Warburg Pincus, will offer its Atome “buy now, pay later” service as a payment option on TikTok Shop in Malaysia, it said in a statement Friday. The service lets consumers defer payments for their purchase over a period of three to six months.
The deal is a boost for Singapore-based Advance Intelligence, whose payments business has gained tens of millions of users in Southeast Asia since its founding in 2016. The startup has raised over US$700 million in total, including a round in 2021 that valued it at more than US$2 billion, according to Bloomberg.
ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok plans to invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next three to five years, betting on the region to spur growth for its e-commerce arm and take on incumbent online retailers such as Sea Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Malaysia’s two biggest e-commerce players by market share, Sea’s Shopee and Alibaba’s Lazada, also offer BNPL payment options. Malaysia’s e-commerce gross merchandise value is projected to reach US$18 billion by 2025, up from $14 billion in 2022, Atome said, citing Statista figures.
