- Aims to expand global footprint, strengthen operations
- Southern Capital led round with Malaysia’s Hibiscus Fund among investors
Soft Space Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian based leading fintech, today announced it has raised US$31.5 million in its Series B funding round, making it the largest Series B raised by a Malaysian startup. Global drone service leader, Aerodyne Group held the record previously with its US$30 million announced in Oct 2019.
For perspective, Grab, when it was a Malaysian founded startup, raised US$15 million in its Series B in 2014. Carsome raised US$19 million in its Series B in March 2018. Soft Space however, launched in 2012, has taken the longest to hit its Series B. But it is in the B2B space where enterprise focused startups tend to take much longer to hit market traction and scale. Soft Space’s funding achievement is also notable as it is in a red ocean of fintech startups where its technology platform must stand up to the highest scrutiny by its traditional banking customers.
Read also: GrabTaxi announces US$15 million Series B funding
The announcement is noteworthy as well because there is likely to be a further close of the current round as Soft Space describes it as its Series B1, indicating discussions have not been finalised with other investors in the round.
Southern Capital Group (SCG) Pte Ltd, led the funding round, with participation from returning Japanese investor Transcosmos Inc, strategic investor JCB (previously announced), and venture capital fund Hibiscus Fund, jointly managed by RHL Ventures and South Korea’s KB Investment which has received funding from the Malaysian government via Penjana Kapital. The funds raised will be used to fuel the company’s continued growth and expansion.
“Building on our strong momentum, the new funds will help expand our global footprint and widen our customer base by accelerating the innovation of our full-stack payments platform while expanding into next generation technological solutions,” said Joel Tay, CEO of Soft Space.
Soft Space, which claims revenue almost doubling in the last two years, describes itself as the world’s leading SoftPOS player with over 70 financial institutions and partners across 23 global markets in Japan, Europe, Oceania and Americas adopting its full stack payment solutions. It is supported by MDEC’s Global Acceleration and Innovative Network (GAIN) programme and received financial support through MIDA’s Domestic Investment Strategic Fund in 2022.
“With the closing of this round, we are restructuring Soft Space’s capital base to catapult the company towards high growth and strengthen our global market position, and we are confident that Soft Space will continue to attract global investors and further its ambition of creating impactful services for our clients.” said Chris Leong, Chief Strategy Officer of Soft Space.
Wong Chin Toh, Managing Director of Southern Capital said, “Soft Space has proven itself in the highly competitive payments sector and has led the way with a number of firsts in the industry, a credit to its market credibility and maturity of its technology solutions. We are pleased to be a part of this investment round and we look forward to working with the founders and our fellow investors to support Soft Space’s ambitions”.
Founded in 2012, Soft Space’s goal is to simplify the complexity of financial infrastructure and enable frictionless payments for customers in a simple and cost-effective manner. With the additional capital from this funding round, the company is well positioned to continue its growth trajectory and achieve its goal of making payment acceptance accessible and affordable.