Singapore-based fintech, which focuses on enabling wholesale trading of currencies, has bagged $2m in funding from a Chinese investment firm.
Startup KOKU recently secured $2 million in pre-Series A funding led by Decent Capital, a Chinese angel investment firm started by the co-founder of Tencent Holdings. The total sum raised includes the $500,000 that Decent Capital invested in KOKU in end-2016.
The fintech launched its FX TechUP suite of solutions last year to help non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs) scale their forex capabilities. NBFIs that they serve are typically remittance companies and liquidity providers, or payments companies. Besides plans to further raise $10 million in Series A funding by the first half of this year, it also hopes to grow its headcount from about 27 currently to 37 over the next six months.
Up-To-Date Technology Not A Given
«A general assumption is that established NBFIs such as remittance houses already have in place up-to-date technology. However this isn’t the case... For one of our customers, which is a major remittance house, integrating technology was uncharted territory,» said KOKU's chief executive Calvin Goh, who was quoted in the «Business Times».
One key component of KOKU’s FX TechUP suite is the Liquidity Providers Connect solution, which enables wholesale trading of currencies between licensed liquidity partners screened and onboarded by KOKU. Through this, liquidity providers are able to conduct on-demand settlement.
