Singapore-headquartered fintech company Little Wallet secured US$1.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Tikaani Partners.
“We recognise the opportunity in the SEA region and plan to invest our first round of funding in scaling up our operations and engineering teams, as well as marketing and strategic partnerships. With partners like Visa in place, we are prepared for the big launches in select SEA markets,” says Little Wallet co-founder Phoebe Tran in a press statement.
Little Wallet aims to pioneer the concept of “family banking” in Southeast Asia, which the company said has not been introduced in the region before. Its primary focus is to promote Smart Money habits and improve financial well-being for entire families.
It differentiates itself from traditional banking brands by creating a gamified, youthful, modern brand image that appeals to users aged 13 to 18–even as young as 6 to 12.
This platform offers services, including earning, saving, budgeting, spending, and giving. It comes equipped with a debit card, companion app, wearable device for tap and pay transactions, and an educational resource for teaching critical financial skills to youth.
Also Read: How digital banking is driving financial inclusion in SEA
“Traditional banks do a great job tailoring their services toward financially established adults, but none has done well building services for families and younger pre-collegiate consumers. These digital natives are a part of the multi-billion-dollar addressable market. Contrary to belief, most customers often stay with their first bank, so it is important to introduce them to banking while young,” cites Cyrus Daruwala, MD, Global Financial Services at IDC.
Little Wallet founder Rahul Sharma and co-founder Phoebe Tran are INSEAD global executive MBA classmates.
Sharma says, “Our customers’ data safety & security is our utmost priority. Our top focus is to embrace zero personal data knowledge, implement strong encryption techniques, adhere to industry standards, carefully select our technology partners, regularly test & monitoring security measures and educate our customers on security best practices.”
The company is one of the winners of Tech in Asia Startup Arena 2022.
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Image Credit: Little Wallet
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