Neat, a Hong Kong-based fintech firm, has secured $11m in series A funding led by Pacific Century Group, with participation from Visa, and MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, among others.
The company offers financial solutions to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and startups.
It offers fully digital multi-currency accounts for businesses, enabling to send and receive money globally at competitive exchange rates compared to a traditional bank.
The fintech also offers corporate expense cards for online and offline spending as well as ATM withdrawals.
The series A funding will be used by Neat to continue its international expansion to support businesses that trade across borders.
Under a new partnership with Visa, Neat will start issuing Visa credit cards for cross-border SMEs in the coming few months.
Neat aims to make international trade frictionless for SMEs and startups
In the long run, Neat aims to make international trade nearly frictionless by letting customers move money and also to make use of a wide ecosystem of tools to automate business processes to operate international business with ease.
Neat CEO and co-founder David Rosa said: “Our goal is to offer a truly global solution for businesses that trade across borders, regardless of their size or how long they’ve been in the market. Corporate credit cards, for example, can be incredibly difficult for young businesses to get.
“We’re excited to partner with Visa, one of the leaders in digital payments, to offer a product that hasn’t always been accessible to young SMEs.”
Last year, Neat opened an office in Shenzhen to target Chinese exporters. With a recently opened a new office in London, the company is set to begin local operations in Western European to serve European entrepreneurs trading with China.
The firm further aims to invest in customer support to offer them round-the-clock support.
In addition, Neat intends to continue developing its customer acquisition channels across South East Asia.
MassMutual Ventures managing director Ryan Collins said: “We’re proud to support Neat in the company’s vision to support entrepreneurs. There is a clear demand for better financial products for SMEs, especially when it comes to cross-border payments and trade, and we’re confident that Neat’s passionate and innovative team will deliver.”
