hoolah, a Singapore-based startup that brings an interest-free Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) installment solution to merchants, announced recently that it has raised an eight digit funding in an Allectus-led Series A funding round. Allectus is a venture capital firm that focuses on disruptive companies in the tech space. Other participants of hoolah’s latest funding round are newcomers Genting Ventures; Time Neville, chief executive officer, APAC, of global fintech company FNZ; and Maximilian Bittner, Lazada founder and now chief executive officer of French e-commerce platform Vestiaire Collective. iGlobe Ventures, a leading venture capital firm headquartered in Singapore that had previously participated in the startup’s seed funding round, returns as an existing investor.
The primary focus of hoolah’s latest injection of fresh funding is to provide the startup the necessary resources to create and develop an omnichannel solution to complement its BNPL payment option for the region’s consumers to shop both digitally and at physical stores. The freshly acquired funds will also enable hoolah to further strengthen their commitment towards their launch in the new Malaysian market, as well as to accelerate the startup’s expansion plans across the region. As part of its efforts to jumpstart their launch in Malaysia, the BNPL solution startup has formed strategic partnerships with BlinQ and Novelship, two trendy and emerging fashion technology startups that are both looking for seamless and innovative payment options to address the needs of their customers.
According to Stuart Thornton, chief executive officer of hoolah, the successful close of its Series A funding round marks a significant step forward for the startups’ ongoing planning and vision. Even as the BNPL company continues to maintain its focus on developing and establishing its omnichannel solution for new regional markets, Stuart says that the startup will also target new verticals to expand into in order to bring its interest-free BNPL payment solution to a wider range of consumers for them to shop responsibly with.
Josie Lai of Genting Ventures said that the company is overall satisfied to have invested in the Singapore-based startup. She praises hoolah’s team for their capability to achieve excellent results in just a short timeframe. Furthermore, she added that Genting Ventures is looking forward to establishing a solid and mutually beneficial partnership with hoolah and supporting its regional expansion and growth. Josie also noted that Genting Ventures can leverage on the BNPL payment solution startup’s business model and core audience to benefit their own business as well.
hoolah’s BNPL payment solution promotes financial inclusion by providing an alternative for young working professionals that cannot yet qualify for credit to purchase items through three interest-free installments as it accepts both debit and credit cards from any banks. Additionally, there are no hidden fees, markups, admin fees or processing fees. It has proven to be quite attractive to young professionals who are looking for ways to minimise impact to their cash flow when budgeting by spreading out their payments over three months of installments. With the new eight digit funding raised from its Series A round, the BNPL startup will look to bring its consumer-friendly payment option to more markets across the region.
