Friz raises seed funding

Singapore: Friz, a Singapore-based fintech startup focused on providing financial services for freelancers, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding from investors, including Y Combinator, 500 Durians, 500 TukTuks, Iterative VC, and other prominent angel investors.

The company was part of Y Combinator’s recently-concluded W21 batch.

The capital raised will be used to expand its engineering and marketing teams and expand into markets such as the Philippines and Thailand.

Launched in April 2020, Friz leverages data insights to provide financial products, including credit cards, personal loans, insurance, savings, and freelancers’ investment products. With Friz, freelancers can keep track of and manage their incomes, expenses, savings, and borrowings all under one roof, boosting productivity and bridging borrowing gaps.

“We are currently serving white-collar freelancers in Singapore and will soon grow to support markets like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand in the region. There are more than 80 million freelancers in Asia at the moment, and this is the fastest-growing market for freelance talent, as individuals are digitally savvy, fluent in English and have diploma/degree qualifications,” shared Ash Rhazaly, CTO and co-founder of Friz.

“Freelancers are entrepreneurs and business people in every regard. For a very long time, they have fallen through the cracks of traditional consumer and business banking — but it is high time that all these changes. At Friz, we are determined to create a new financial paradigm for the future of work,” said Nirali Zaveri, CEO, and co-founder of Friz.

There has been a recent upsurge in the number of freelancers operating globally, which comes from the pandemic forcing individuals into working remotely.

This trend is particularly noticeable in the Asia Pacific region, where a reported 84 percent of hiring managers are outsourcing projects to freelancers.