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Sarah Wig writes articles for Investocracy News, a news and media platform focusing on startup news from Africa and Asia

 

GoBear announced that it has raised US$ 17 million from its previous investor Walvis Participaties, a Dutch venture capital firm, and Aegon N.V., a life insurance and asset management provider.
About GoBear

Founded in 2015, GoBear is a Singapore-based financial services platform that compares the best car insurance, travel insurance, health insurance, credit cards, and loan rates in Asia. GoBear originally launched as a metasearch engine. Now operating in financial services, GoBear’s mission is to make financial literacy, financial inclusion, and financial security attainable for everyone. Currently, it operates in seven Asian markets: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

At present, the company works with over 100 financial partners, including banks and insurance providers. GoBear has been used by more than 55 million people to search for more than 2,000 personal financial products.

Funding round

This round of funding brings GoBear’s funding to US$ 97 million in total. The funding from this round used towards accelerating the company’s transformation into what it deems a “full-fledged financial services platform.”

Founder and CEO, GoBear, Adrian Chng announced that GoBear will focus on “three growth pillars”. First, an online financial supermarket that evolved from the company’s financial products aggregator/comparison service. Second, an online insurance brokerage. Third, its digital lending business. GoBear has also previously acquired AsiaKredit, a consumer lending platform, to expand its digital lending business.

Chng also added that the latest round acts as validation from its continuing investors who continue to see the potential for growth. “We’re on track to build a robust financial services platform that Asia really needs.” Chng believes that the start-up’s strong foundation of alternative data will enable them to “better assess and price risk, co-create better products, and ultimately improve financial inclusion.”

Other Announcements

GoBear (Singapore’s fintech GoBear raises US$ 17M )has also announced the addition of three senior executives: Valeriy Gastarov as Chief Information Technology Officer; Jinnee Lim as Chief Strategy Officer and Mike Singh from AsiaKredit as Chief Lending Officer.

Gasratov brings over two decades of fintech expertise to the team and is excited to be a part of a “bold mission to improve the financial health of people in Asia”. Gasratov said, “With our data and technology, GoBear is positioned to have a huge impact on the future of financial services in the region.”

Despite COVID-19, the platform has witnessed gross margin positive since the end of 2019.

Even though consumers’ interest in travel insurance has declined, the company has continued to see demand for other insurance products. Over the last three months, GoBears online insurance brokerage has grown its average order by 52%. The start-up has also seen a 50% year-over-year growth from its loan products. In fact, GoBear predicts that the pandemic will increase its partnerships with financial institutions that plan to digitize their products.

 

 

 

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