A Cambodia-based company has boosted cashless payments with a final round of funding.
Financial technology (fintech) startup Clik disbursed $3.7 million, making it Southeast Asia’s largest seeding source in mobile payments, loyalty programmes, data awareness, business intelligence and cloud data services.
Funding was led by Openway and Poems Pte Ltd – the investment holding company of Phillip Capital, a Singaporean financial house with more than $35 billion under management – along with several global angel investors, a third of which are Cambodia-based.
This round of financing, which includes the $2 million of commitments announced at the end of 2018, enables Clik to upgrade its product engineering and customer service teams.
Clik’s progress is testament to the invaluable backing that the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has provided to the fintech sector.
Actively supporting the digitalisation of payments, the NBC is at the forefront of payment innovation, developing one of the first of the central bank’s digital payments system, Bakong, with which Clik will integrate in due course.
“After two years of scaling up and defining the fundamentals of our regional marketing strategy, we’re ready to accelerate our growth with the closure of our seed round. Our goal here is to offer merchants and consumers a much-needed and attractive digital alternative to cash,” said Matthew Tippetts, chief executive officer and co-founder of Clik.
“Amid the instability caused by the global pandemic, Clik has continued to go from strength-to-strength, focusing on much needed contactless payment solutions and data-driven tools to enable both merchants and consumers to benefit,” said Tippetts.
“The closing of our seed round is a sign that investors are eager to back future proof platforms for the ‘new normal’ that will inevitably exist post-COVID. It also shows that investors see attractive opportunities for investment in Cambodia, especially in startups with robust regional potential.” added Tippetts.
In working closely with MYPINPAD, which is the first, and currently only company in the world to achieve a payment card industry (PCI) Security Standards Council (SSC) certification for its software-only contactless payments on commercial off-the-shelf solutions, Clik will become a driving force in digital payments, enabling any business, from the smallest to the largest, to accept tap to pay digital payments using their mobile devices. Clik will be the first payment company in South East Asia to launch this disruptive solution.
Morten Hofstad, MYPINPAD head of Asia, said: “We look forward to supporting Clik in delivering its Electronic Know Your Customer rapid merchant onboarding solution which will reduce friction and boost financial inclusion for micro, small and medium enterprises.
He said that MYPINPAD’s aim is to enable greater financial inclusion with an enhanced consumer experience that “will help open and grow new markets for card acceptance”.
Founded in 2016, Clik is a payment aggregator enabling consumer payments from cards, e-wallets and bank accounts while enabling merchants to accept such payments. As Cambodia’s first independent mobile point of sale (POS) on a smart phone or tablet that acts as a register and SoftPOS merchant acquirer. Soft POS is mobile-centric based on near-field communication technology. It is an alternative for micro merchants to be used in specific business cases. The so-called “Tap-on-Phone” or “Tap-to-Phone” POS solution is supported by the major payment schemes. Clik provides all these payments in contactless (tap to pay) mode.
Clik aims to provide a safe, seamless, simple and rewarding payment experience that empowers the user. The company is developing a single, easy to use platform that focuses on building consumer loyalty to boost merchant profits.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
