The underserved middle class financial technology platform Surfin, with its headquarters in Singapore, has raised $12.5 million from Insignia Ventures Partners.
This funding is being provided by Surfin, which according to a statement released by the company on Tuesday, serves 60 million people in eight countries on three continents and has completed transactions totaling about $2.7 billion.
With its headquarters located in Singapore, Surfin was established in 2017 and initially focused on consumer loans before branching out to offer credit card issuance, wealth management, and payments and remittances. Surfin aims to offer the expanding, underbanked middle class an ecosystem of transparent and cutting-edge financial services through the use of analytics and Al.
The company has operations in the following countries: Nigeria (2019), Kenya (2019), India (2021), Uganda (2022), Australia (2023), Vietnam (2018), Mexico (2018), Philippines (2018), and Indonesia (since 2018).
Over the years, the company has obtained multiple licenses in various jurisdictions as it has grown in presence. The company holds P2P, mutual fund distribution, remittance, and payment gateway (incoming) licenses in Indonesia, which is Surfin’s largest market.
Since its founding, Surfin has been entirely self-funded, and all loans are made from its own balance sheet without the involvement of third parties. This Series A round represents the company’s first external investment round.
Yanan Wu founded the company Surfin. Wu has worked for institutions and family offices for more than 26 years, during which time she held positions at TD Asset Management Canada and CITIC Prudential Fund.
“Surfin’s vision has always been to build an ecosystem of financial technology services on top of our existing scalable and sustainable risk management system powered by AI and big data,” Wu said.
With a starting IDR 10,000 investment, young, novice investors can use Surfin’s wealth management product, Ayovest, which debuted in Indonesia in 2023 as a mutual fund trading platform for safe and profitable investing. Since 2023, Ayovest has been conducting business efficiently and has held an OJK license.
Then, “Sufinc,” Surfin’s credit card company, was founded in Mexico in 2023. In order to increase Surfin’s consumer finance presence in Central America, the company partnered with Visa to develop a credit card, which gave rise to Sufinc.
There are no annual commissions, monthly expenses can be paid at any time of the year, and businesses can go for months without having to pay interest. Sufinc is accepted everywhere in the world—in stores and online—thanks to this partnership with Visa.
Dr. Wu has received support from over 2,500 individuals worldwide in his Surfin’ initiative. Its executive team includes former executives from Baidu, Akulaku, and Shopee. A board of highly accomplished, multi-hyphenate global finance executives also provides advice to Surfin.
