soCash raises funds for growth

Singapore-based financial technology start-up soCash has raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Vertex Ventures.

The investment will be used to scale the start-up's operations and to expand its team.

soCash's proprietary platform allows users to withdraw cash anywhere by turning small businesses into "cashpoints". The technology plugs into the mobile apps of banks.

"Despite the various initiatives to push towards a cashless society, the payment landscape in Asia remains dominated by cash," said Mr Chua Joo Hock, managing partner at Vertex Ventures South-east Asia and India.

"We believe that the transition will take years and soCash will play an important role in helping societies to transit towards the digital era."

Consumer insights app raises $13.6m

Cashback and consumer insights platform Snapcart has raised US$10 million (S$13.6 million) in its latest round of funding.

The round was led by existing investor Vickers Venture Partners, and includes funding from Social Capital, Kickstart Ventures and Endeavor Catalysts. Existing investors Wavemaker Partners and SPH Ventures also took part.

Snapcart gives shoppers cashback for scanning their receipts in exchange for collecting consumer purchase data. It makes use of artificial intelligence to retrieve the data from scanned receipts.

The company, launched in 2015, operates in Indonesia and the Philippines. It recently opened a Singapore office to focus on business development and client acquisition.

The app has over 700,000 users and is collaborating with more than 75 fast-moving consumer goods companies in South-east Asia.

"We are thrilled that Snapcart is truly disrupting the market research industry that has been around for decades but was really slow to innovate," said Dr Jeffrey Chi, vice-chairman at Vickers Venture Partners.

"We're really excited that Snapcart is already beginning not just to generate repeat revenues from customers but seeing these revenues grow rapidly. This is a testament as to how useful the product is to customers."