Across the globe, startups are trying to disrupt industries through innovative solutions. Among others, fintech is one of the hottest trends right now. Singapore-based, venture-backed (read about its recent round here) Red Dot Payment is in this arena with its scalable solutions which aim to enable merchants and financial institutions to provide complete end-to-end payment options for their customers worldwide to pay securely.
Managing Director Randy Tan joined us and answered our questions.
FinSMEs: Hi Randy. First, can you tell us a little bit more about you? What’s your background?
Randy: I fell in love with credit cards as a small boy- I was always fascinated by it and how it works. Then I started my career in Citibank. After I left Citibank, I did my internship with Visa for one year. My last role at Visa was as Director of Consulting, where I was in-charge of IndoChina and Philippines.
FinSMEs: Let’s speak about Red Dot Payment. What are the problems you want to solve and the opportunities you found in the market?
Randy: We found that online purchases tend to have a high abandonment rate at the checkout page. Furthermore, most businesses tend to be post-paid after their services or products are delivered. This does not bode well with cashflow, even for established companies.
Red Dot Payment is designed as a proprietary payment solution that allows payment to be integrated with any established or new business that has a reservation system on their website, even on social media. We have successfully enabled the hospitality, travel, retail, non-profit and educational industries to reach their local and overseas clients and settle payments in their local currencies, which may include controlled currencies.
FinSMEs: How does Red Dot Payment work? Tell me something about the features of the service…
Randy: Red Dot Payment offers innovative online payment solutions that can generate e-invoices for websites and enable our clients to collect payment upfront, via social media from customers worldwide.
The special feature that draws merchants to us is our ability to automatically transfer funds to them, once their customers have paid them through our gateway. The service we provide is only billed to our customers at the end of the month. In this way, our customers get better cashflow than their competitors who have not engaged us.
We provide ecommerce merchants with more payment platforms that are secure and reliable. As we are known for our experienced management team and attentive service, hotels and government agencies come to us. They have found our payment service especially robust and scalable.
FinSMEs: Where are you now in terms of growth? Some numbers?
Randy: We are seeing good traction for our current products. Our staff strength is nearly 30, and we have 4 offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Our focus is now in the new ecommerce / retail space as well as supporting old school brick-and-mortar businesses that are going online.
FinSMEs: You just raised a round of funding. What can you tell me about the investors? How are you using the funds?
Randy: GMO Payment Gateway, Inc is the largest online payment processing service provider in Japan and is publicly-traded. Wavemaker Pacific is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology companies in Southeast Asia. Like all startups that raise funds in early rounds, we are using the funds for expansion and working capital.
FinSMEs:…future plans?
Randy: We are in a growth phase, and plan to reach more markets in Asia.
More importantly, we are starting our Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, and plan to build a culture of giving back to society. We hope to reach the underprivileged so that they can have a taste of the fruits of our labour.
FinSMEs: Finally, what about Singapore as a startup ecosystem? Is it growing? Exciting?
Randy: With low start-up costs and a supportive business environment, Singapore is taking shape as a growing startup ecosystem. The government has also rolled out several initiatives to encourage entrepreneurship, such as cash grants, financing schemes and tax incentives.
With institutions of higher learning introducing entrepreneurship in their undergraduate curriculum, we are heartened to know that Singapore is well poised to plant the flag of enterprise in the global arena.
FinSMEs
21/11/2014