Adyen, a payments technology provider that counts Uber Technologies as a customer, is ramping up investment in the Asia-Pacific region to capitalise on surging adoption of e-commerce and mobile devices.

The start-up plans to double its Singapore workforce to 70 in the next 12 months, according to chief executive Pieter van der Does. He expects the Asia-Pacific market to eventually account for 30 per cent of revenue, up from about 10 per cent of US$727 million (S$973 million) in sales reported last year.

Adyen is just one player in a crowded payments market, competing with PayPal and San Francisco-based Stripe, among others. The Amsterdam-based start-up typically targets larger firms with Grab, the biggest ride-hailing start-up in South-east Asia, selecting the company among its partners.

Mr van der Does said: "We like to build the company from inside out, whereas in the US, companies you often see are people who make a big claim, get a lot of cash and build it from the outside to deliver the promise. It's not our approach."

On Thursday, Adyen unveiled infrastructure connecting businesses directly to Visa and Mastercard in Singapore, extending its service beyond Europe, the United States, Australia, Brazil and Hong Kong.

Adyen is backed by investors including Temasek Holdings, General Atlantic and Iconiq Capital, which counts Mr Mark Zuckerberg as a client. The payments firm was last valued at US$2.3 billion in 2014.

Many payments tech providers are betting on South-east Asia, a region of 620 million people and home to an e-commerce market forecast to reach US$88 billion by 2020, according to a report by Google and Temasek.

BLOOMBERG