Fintech startup LatiPay raises US$3M from Jubilee Capital, others to expand to Singapore, US

By Sainul Abudheen K for e27

LatiPay allows Chinese consumers to pay for goods and services using Yuan whilst merchants receive full payment for goods or services direct to their local bank account in their local currency

Latitude Technologies, an Auckland-based online payments company which operates under the brand name LatiPay, has secured US$3 million in Series A funding from Singapore-based venture capital firm Jubilee Capital Management, with participation from Tuhua Fund, Zino Fund (both based in New Zealand) and an angel investor.

These four investors are the latest to fund this fintech company, whose existing shareholders include Jim Rogers (Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests).

With this capital, LatiPay will onboard more merchants onto its platform, in addition to expanding into Singapore and the US.

Started a year ago by Peter Wei, LatiPay allows Chinese consumers to pay for goods and services using Chinese Yuan whilst merchants receive full payment for goods or services direct to their local bank account in their local currency, at no cost to the merchants. Chinese payers can make payment through their preferred bank payment channels (19 Chinese banks) or leading e-wallets such as AliPay or WeChat pay, JDPAY and Baidu wallet.

The startup launched operations in Australia in December 2016, and will expand to the US and Singapore in May this year.

Jubilee Capital is a Singapore-based VC fund which has recently obtained its registered fund management license from Monetary Authority of Singapore. The lead investor, Jubilee Capital, deploys funds into high-growth technology enterprises. Latipay is the third investment by Jubilee Technology Fund, which has a target size of US$100 million.

In November, Jubilee announced the launch of its new fund Jubilee Tech Fund (JTF) with an initial kitty of US$30 million. It plans to raise a total of US$100 million for JTF.

First appeared at e27