B2B fintech startup Aspire raises US$158m from DST Global, fintech founders

FINTECH startup Aspire has raised a US$158 million Series B round, comprising US$58 million in equity and US$100 million in debt, to expand its integrated finance platform across South-east Asia.

The round was led by an undisclosed global growth equity firm together with DST Global Partners, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital and hedge fund Fasanara Capital. Existing investors including Hummingbird Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Picus Capital, and AFG Partners also participated in the round.

The round also drew investments from a number of fintech founders. They include Wise's Taavet Hinrikus, Qonto's Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi, Uala's Pierpaolo Barbieri, Xendit's Moses Lo, Payfazz's Hendra Kwik, and Clara's Gerry Colyer.

Aspire's platform allows businesses to handle local and international payments, expense management, invoices and more in one place.

The average business uses seven different providers to fulfil their end-to-end finance operating needs across accounting softwares, payroll managers, invoice management tools, credit solutions and multiple bank accounts, Aspire said.

"We see a world dominated by integrated platforms across various business functions such as Salesforce for sales or Slack for communication. We believe the same is happening for finance and we are here to build the operating system for the South-east Asia digital economy," said chief executive Andrea Baronchelli.