YouTrip sets sights on B2B payments as it bags another US$30m in funding

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Financial startup YouTrip has received US$30 million in its latest Series A funding round. It has has now raised over US$60 million funding in total since launch, following a pre Series A funding led by Insignia Ventures Partners in 2019. The funds will be used to supercharge the company’s technological capabilities, enter the B2B space in adjacent markets and accelerate its entrance into the rest of Southeast Asia.

Caecilia Chu, YouTrip’s CEO and co-founder said the company has transformed since its previous funding round; having established a strong foothold in new territories such as overseas online spending to meet the extraordinary shifts in consumer behaviours. "We believe there is untapped potential in cross-border payments, and our market-leading position in this space puts us in a good place to serve more of our users’ payment needs - from travellers, to online shoppers, and now, businesses. As a company, this latest round also gives us the resources to strengthen our multiple growth engines to stay resilient and well-primed for expansion into new vistas,” she added.

To advance its growth, YouTrip has set its sights on the B2B payments ecosystem with the launch of its new corporate credit card, YouBiz. The credit card offers higher spending limits while transacting at the best exchange rates in over 150 currencies, and credit terms offered to selected business account users. Companies will also be able to issue corporate cards to employees, with all expenses streamlined into one platform.

YouTrip’s co-founder Arthur Mak said that it is excited about the B2B payments opportunity as it is a segment with a deep market. "As companies increasingly operating in a distributed and borderless manner, we expect their cross-border payment needs to go up. By incorporating our company’s core strengths of offering the best exchange rates and an extremely easy to use interface into YouBiz, we help businesses save time and cost, so that they can focus their energy and efforts in finding growth," he added.

Registration for interest in the product’s beta launch has received more than 1,000 sign-ups to date. YouBiz will be rolled out in Singapore in the first quarter of 2022, and is expected to roll out to five other ,markets in Southeast Asia within the next 12 months. Additionally, YouTrip plans to use its funds to accelerate its growth in consumers' multi-currency payments. This comes as YouTrip's transaction volume rebounded to pre-pandemic levels due to a strong traction in cross-border eCommerce transactions, coupled with the progressive return of travel spending. YouTrip foresees that transactions volumes will accelerate rapidly with the opening of more Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) in Singapore amidst the year-end festive season and rise in revenge travel.

For starters, YouTrip has launched its VTL Holiday Away campaign for Singaporeans to bring more value to their overseas trips. The campaign, which aims to reinforce its proposition as the best overseas payment method in the upcoming travel season, allows YouTrip users to receive cashback of up to SG$100 when they pay using YouTrip for overseas spending from now until 31 December 2021. Additionally, YouTrip is offering a grand prize of an all-expenses-paid VTL trip worth up to $5,000 will also be awarded to one selected user as part of its campaign giveaway. To join the giveaway, YouTrip users have to respond to the campaign's "Add Yours" sticker on YouTrip's Instagram story with a picture that represents their "Perfect YouTrip VTL Holiday Away" and tag the company in the photo.

Currently, YouTrip has plans to launch into Malaysia and the Philippines. Chu said, "The pandemic has brought about circumstances that have delayed our expansion plans slightly. But as countries gradually open their borders, and with the preparation, partnership talks and ground work already being laid out, we can pick up pace to resume and accelerate on our expansion plans."

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