Hong Kong’s Tofupay Wants To Make Online Payments Easy

E27.CO: The startup aims to make transactions simpler by offering easy multi-currency management.  Tofupay is one of the 11 teams chosen to join the blueprint accelerator programme. This international team of five will be working on their not-so-stinky idea, Tofupay, an alternative service to make online payments and transactions easier and more economical.

Over the next six months, they’ll be developing their product, tweaking their market and distribution strategies, and working with a network of mentors, investors and partners.

Tofupay is meant for anyone who’s had gripes with popular payment services that exist, whether it’s poor customer service, confusing fine print, or other complicated disputes. With Tofupay, online merchants can set up payments for free and track each transaction.

EHK talks to the startup about how it plans to revolutionise online payments in Asia. Here’s a slice of what’s to come in future.

How will you differentiate yourself between Paypal and local companies like AsiaPay?

People want solutions that are more cost effective, easier to integrate and have richer features. Current methods are more traditional. Our approach is an API-driven solution that is easier to implement and more cost effective.

TofuPay will offer a service to relieve common issues in the online transaction process such as customer service, ease when setting up merchant accounts, handling of recurring payments and an affordable, transparent fee structure.

What markets are you targeting?

We are targeting Southeast Asia, and we will make transactions simpler by offering easy multi-currency management. Let’s say you’re a Hong Kong business acquiring currencies in Hong Kong dollars. If you’re transacting with companies in Singapore or Malaysia, you’re forced to change currencies. But we are giving you the ability to keep the current currency, without doing any conversions.

How did you all come together?

The five of us met at HK Startup Weekend in October 2014. We got very lucky, because of the balance of our skills like experts in cloud, finance, technology and design. Our team is diverse in backgrounds, languages and nationality.

What do you hope to get out of the accelerator programme?

Our focus in the next six months is to launch the product and secure funds.