iMoney Group, the Malaysia-based leading financial comparison startup, today announced it has raised $2 million in a Series A funding round, led by Jungle Ventures. Other investors include ECONA AG, Rebright Partners, IMJ Fenox, Fenox Venture Capital, 500 Startups, Vogel Ventures and Angel Investor Lim Der Shing.
This funding round came just a few months after it raised $500,000 in seed capital from Asia Venture Group Sdn Bhd (AVG). iMoney allows consumers to easily compare financial products such as home loans, personal loans and credit cards, and apply online for those products.
In Malaysia, iMoney (www.iMoney.my) works with OCBC, Maybank, AIA, CIMB, Alliance, AmBank and others to originate loans online. For consumers, iMoney is a transparent way of comparing products and a convenient way to apply for loans without having to leave their homes.
Banking partners in Malaysia can leverage the startups’ know-how to reach consumers in the digital space, and acquire new customers at a lower cost than through their existing bricks-and-mortar presence. iMoney aims to further accelerate growth in Malaysia and to cement its leadership positions in other markets in the coming months.
“At this point, iMoney is growing at double digits month-on-month, and while we’re already the largest financial comparison business in the region, we want to further accelerate this”, said Lee Ching Wei, Co-Founder and Group CEO at iMoney “This round of funding will allow us to continue to invest in user acquisition and to strengthen our operational teams on the ground, with the aim of bringing iMoney to the next level.”
Lee added that the primary reason for iMoney’s success is due to the sheer volume of business iMoney is already referring to financial institutions, which currently stands close to $70 million a month.
Amit Anand, Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures, is confident that iMoney is the best team in this region to capitalize on the growing opportunity in the financial comparison space. “iMoney is operating in an extremely attractive market, and we see huge potential going forward, given the rapid growth in the middle class and increasing demand for financial services and products.”
iMoney also announced the appointment of former CIMB, Citi and RBS senior banker Bruno Araujo as Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer. Araujo had previously been active as an investor in local startups since leaving CIMB (one of the largest banks in South East Asia) in May, where he was Head of Retail Product Management.
“The financial services space is amongst the most exciting for tech investors in Asia and iMoney is well ahead of its peers when it comes to disrupting this industry. In Malaysia alone there are around $33 billion of new home loans written every year and less than 0.1% of that is originated online. If you consider the other countries where iMoney has a leading presence, like Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand etc. then we’re talking about a $100 billion market. I was really impressed with the team, the brand and the technology that sits behind the site and am excited to be joining.”
With more than 600 million consumers, a double-digit growth rate in internet penetration, and hundreds of billion USD in new loans being issued each year, iMoney is well placed to disrupt the conventional financial services model here in South East Asia.
