Chekk, Hello Clever & Zywa

At FinTech Futures, we know that it can be easy to let funding announcements slip you by in this fast-paced industry. That’s why we put together our weekly In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) funding round-up for you to get the latest fintech funding news.

Chekk, a know your customer (KYC), know your business (KYB) and data management platform, has raised money from SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, as part of its latest financing round.

The “multi-million dollar” round was led by HSBC, with participation from venture capital firm SOSV.

“Chekk is already an established partner for SC Ventures, as our go-to KYC/KYB provider for a number of ventures we have incubated,” says Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures.

“While several companies claim to optimise customer onboarding in banking, none comes close to Chekk, with real-time data collection delivering a digital advantage across multiple stakeholders.”

Founded in 2013, Chekk has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Paris, and clients across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Australia-based paytech Hello Clever has bagged $4.5 million in funding, consisting of a $1.7 million pre-seed and a $2.8 million seed round.

Hello Clever co-founders Caroline Tan & Gavin Nguyen. Image source: Hello Clever

The seed round was led by Vectr Fintech Partners with participation from CrossFund, Yolo Investments, Magnivia Ventures, Son Tech Ventures, Boson Ventures and notable angels such as Anthony Warren and Olivia Warren of Peter Warren Automotive, Ken Cheung (former founding head of Asia Pacific – Facebook and Instagram and co-founder of OurSong with John Legend), Daniel Johnson of Mercurien Insurance and Bosco Tan.

“We want to introduce a new ecosystem that allows consumers to be financially healthier and our merchant partners to increase sales/reduce operating costs,” the start-up says.

“That’s why we are not a single product, it’s a ‘clever way’ of executing payment strategies to achieve better business outcomes. From Hello Clever as a consumer facing app, we have now evolved into building Hello Clever Business, Hello Clever Business API and Hello Clever Yield – which is our path into financial investing for Gen Zs.”

Hello Clever claims to be “the first Australian buy-to-earn platform designed with the customer in mind”. It provides real-time cashback for customers through its payment API  – an instant payment solution powered by the New Payments Platform (NPP), PayTo and PayID.

Lead investor Mark Munoz says he “hadn’t seen a fintech app for young audiences in the market with the same kind of traction and positive customer review”.

He forecasts Hello Clever being able to grow into Southeast Asia through the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam – markets with “big, young and tech-savvy populations”.

Zywa, a UAE-based fintech for teens and young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has announced a seed funding round of $3 million.

Investors who participated in the round include Goodwater Capital (the largest consumer tech VC globally), Dubai Future District Fund (the venture capital fund of funds of Dubai, anchored by Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai Future Foundation), Rebel Fund, Trampoline Venture Partners, Zemu VC and some of the most prominent European family offices, as well as strategic angel investors.

At the start of this year, Zywa raised $1 million in pre-seed funding.

Founded in 2021 and backed by Y Combinator, the fintech offers a gamified community-based banking app and payment card to 11–25-year-olds. It claims to have received 100,000+ sign-ups.

It is currently present in the UAE and Egypt and plans to launch in Saudi Arabia in early 2023.