Digital Bank Contender MatchMove announced on Tuesday it has made a strategic investment into e-commerce enabler Shopmatic.

The investment will enable the digital bank contender to extend its «Banking-as-a-Service» wallet capability to Shopmatic’s ecosystem of more than 435,000 e-commerce SMEs and individual entrepreneurs across the region, it said.

«This investment is enabling us to access and solve payment pain points for a large pool of SMEs looking to digitize. With a captive SME base, Shopmatic is a natural go-to-market partner to scale our platform. In addition, through the MatchMove ecosystem, we can provide essential banking services including access to financing for these SMEs which are typically digitally underserved by traditional financial institutions,» said MatchMove CEO Shailesh Naik.

Digital Payments Solution

MatchMove will power digital payments and cross border remittance capability to enable these e-commerce companies to make as well as receive payments seamlessly from their customers and suppliers in a safe, secure and cost-effective manner. Overtime, it will build credit-scores for SMEs against which they can access loans for their capital requirements.

«With this partnership with MatchMove we can seamlessly integrate iFinancial offerings and provide our customers with rich banking-in-an-app experience that MatchMove offers,» said CEO of Shopmatic, Anurag Avula.

Turnkey Solutions

Shopmatic provides turnkey solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wanting to set-up an online store. This includes setting up the store-front, payment, shipping and logistics integrations, selling across multiple channels including Social media and Marketplaces, to sales management and customer support. 

Across Southeast Asia, e-commerce sales in the region’s six largest economies are projected to grow to $79.29 billion in 2022 from $41.28 billion in 2019, according to a S&P Global Market Intelligence research.