MoneySmart.sg raises S$14 million in funding

MoneySmart.sg raised S$14 million in a Series B funding round. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM MONEYSMART.SG

SINGAPORE - Online personal finance portal, MoneySmart.sg raised S$14 million in a Series B funding round.

The round was led by Kakaku.com, an online service provider whose portfolio includes Kakaku.com, Japan's largest shopping support site that provides information on a wide variety of products and services and Tabelog, a user review and ranking site for restaurants.

MoneySmart.sg was founded in 2009 with the aim of simplifying personal finance decisions for all its users by offering side-by-side comparisons of products such as credit cards, loans and bank accounts.

After raising a Series A round of funding in 2015 that was led by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Media Fund, it has experienced significant growth, more than doubling its employee count and seeing a 40 per cent rise in its monthly visits.

Today it receives an average of 1 million monthly sessions from visitors seeking information on personal finance products.

Founder and chief executive officer Vinod Nair said Kakaku.com is a natural fit for MoneySmart.sg.

"Having an investor like Kakaku who has gone through and overcome the many challenges in the comparison space, is extremely valuable and serves as a timely validation that we're on the right track and will be a guiding light for our future endeavours."

MoneySmart.sg is the first company that Kakaku.com has invested in outside of Japan, marking the beginning of their global business expansion.

Mr Genta Sugihara, the senior executive officer of corporate development at Kakaku.com said the partnership is an investment into a rapidly growing market with many opportunities for synergies between the two companies.

"It's an important first step in accelerating Kakaku.com's global business and we look forward to exploring similar opportunities with other businesses whose offerings complement our portfolio."

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