Mobile phones have emerged as the dominant alternative payment method to cash for buying and selling goods and services in emerging markets. And with a service akin to alternative payment providers like M-Pesa and Pagatech in Africa and a slew of alternative payment platforms in Southeast Asia, it’s a technology that the region understands well.
Headquartered in the Finnish city of Turku, with product development in Helsinki and offices around Asia, Tapp’s Series A round was raised from Australia-based Amma Private Equity, an early-stage investment network, and brings the total amount invested in the company to USD 12.9 million.
With the new funds, Tapp will strengthen operations in Indonesia and expand to new markets. The company currently employs a staff of 77.
Tapp Commerce’s consumer app, Tapp Market, allows people without bank accounts or credit cards to upload cash on the app to buy goods and services online via a network of sellers in emerging markets.
More than that, with Tapp, users can prepay for electricity, tuition fees, microinsurance, airtime and music. Anyone can become an agent, someone who can accept cash in exchange for digital currency, with data and some cash.
On the street level, Tapp wants to emulate existing, cash-based, consumer behavior in local markets. The company’s sales strategy is to onboard trusted local shop owners to give shoppers an option to convert their coins and bills, through the app, into digital currency in order to expand their buying options.
Tapp has 134 merchant partners in Indonesia and the Philippines. In April, the company partnered with Indonesia-based insurance company Jaya Proteksi, a member of ACE Group, to provide microinsurance customers in Indonesia.
The app currently works only on Android and is used by more than 30,000 vendors with 3 million buyers in Southeast Asia, according to a press release.
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