Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Pace acquires Rely to advance financial inclusion
Pace Enterprise (Pace), one of the leading fintech solution companies with a fast-growing buy now pay later (BNPL) platform has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Rely, the home-grown fintech startup that offers BNPL services in the region, for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition, which enables consumers to use Pace’s alternative payment solutions across a wider network of brands in Singapore and Malaysia, also drives incremental revenue for a range of new merchants. The Rely team will be working with all existing merchants to transition them to Pace’s merchant platforms.
As part of this acquisition, all Rely employees will take on new roles at Pace aligned to their previous capacities.
Founded by Hizam Ismail, CEO; Mohamed Abbas, chief revenue officer; and Prakash Raja, chief technology officer in 2017, Rely was the first operator to offer BNPL payment solutions in Singapore. The company has since scaled its operations regionally and partnered with leading retailers including Qoo10 Singapore, ZALORA, JD Sports and SK Jewellery Group, among other brands. In 2020, the firm secured capital from Polaris, the strategic partnerships arm of Goldbell Financial Services to finance up to SGD100 million ($73.8 million) in BNPL transactions.
Turochas "T" Fuad, founder and CEO of Pace said, “The addition of Rely marks a key milestone achievement for Pace as we continue to strengthen our presence in Asia. With a shared purpose in democratising financial services across the region, we look forward to delivering more compelling offerings that cater to the financial needs of our customers".
“The Rely team has always been driven by the desire to empower consumers to shop in a sustainable and responsible manner. In this next phase with Pace, we are excited to offer our expertise and contribute to Pace’s broader mission of transforming financial services in the region,” Ismail said.
To date, Pace has over 5,000 points-of-sale across the Asia region and is on track to meet its goal of one million users by the end of 2022. Pace also aims to have an annualised GMV of $1 billion by end 2022.
Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker
