Y Combinator-backed Aspire, which is on a mission to reinvent SME banking across Southeast Asia, announced today a partnership with NIUM, a global financial technology platform, and Visa, to offer corporate cards to its business customers.
Aspire Corporate Card will be linked to Aspire flagship Business Account, offering their clients a simpler and 100% digital experience for their marketing and day-to-day expenses. The card will be linked to Aspire analytics tools to help small businesses with cash flow monitoring and expense tracking.
AspireAccount, targeted at small businesses and startups across the region, can be opened online in just a few clicks. The account is free, with no minimum deposit and no monthly fees. It comes with an instant credit limit for daily business expenses and other tools to help business owners with cash flow management.
Aspire is currently operating across Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam, and is building a digital business banking platform in collaboration with third party financial service providers to create a unique digital banking experience for its SME customers. Through this collaboration, Aspire will be integrating NIUM’s enterprise-grade API solutions for the issuance of corporate cards.
”Currently, most business owners rely on outdated card management systems as part of their corporate bank accounts. Lots of physical paperwork to activate and change settings, no rewards management interface, customer service lines with long waitlists to activate and block. I’m proud to say that we are working with NIUM to fix this and provide a better digital solution for a new generation of business owners who demand better experiences,” said Andrea Baronchelli, co-founder and CEO at Aspire.
“One of NIUM’s goals is to look at improving business efficiency through the introduction and facilitation of financial technology, and we are really excited to be partnering with Aspire to do so. Through this partnership, we are able to employ NIUM’s leading technology to help expand Aspire’s core offerings and create a better banking experience for their SME clientele. Our collaboration with Visa also allows us to issue cards in a shorter time, fast-tracking integration of digital capabilities and allowing quicker and easier access to capital,” said Prajit Nanu, founder, and CEO at NIUM.
“SMEs form the backbone of our economy, and we are here to support their business growth. Our research shows that SMEs often face challenges when it comes to cash flow and productivity. Through this partnership with Aspire and NIUM, we enable SMEs to embark on this digital payments journey and help them increase cash visibility of their businesses and promote efficiency in their business models. This is aligned with our government’s goal for SMEs to become more digital,” said Kunal Chatterjee, Visa Country Manager for Singapore & Brunei.
About Aspire
Aspire is a leading SME-focused Fintech serving a new generation of digital-savvy businesses with a mobile-first digital business account across Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Founded in January 2018 by former Lazada founders and executives, the company graduated fromY Combinator Winter 2018 batch and it is part of the YC Continuity Growth Program Winter 2020.
About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Its mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Its advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second.
About NIUM
Singapore-headquartered NIUM (formerly known as InstaReM), is a global financial technology platform. The NIUM platform empowers businesses to send, spend & receive funds across borders, with a mission to democratize money movement across the globe. NIUM is regulated in Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States of America, and processes billions of dollars a year for banks and payments institutions, next generation of e-commerce players, OTAs and retail users across the world.
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