In early January, Indonesian Fintech Unicorn, XenDit made its debut on Malaysian shores , offering up a diverse range of hyperlocal payment solutions to businesses in the country from SMEs and startups to giant corporations alike.
In addition to its entry into Malaysia, the unicorn had also announced an investment in local fintech player, Payex – a Bank Negara Malaysia licensed payment gateway provider. To find out more on their mission in Malaysia this year, Disruptr chats with Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Moses Lo (ML).
What is the landscape like for hyperlocal payment solutions for businesses in Malaysia in comparison to the region?
ML: Malaysia (MY) is a whole different stack in terms of how payments are done. We’re seeing a universal problem but needing localised solutions. For example, Real-time Retail Payments Platform (RPP), is already there and works well, but the RPP2 is coming.
ML: The Malaysian stack is nicer and has some good things already, but there are still things that need work on. The launched installment payment plan for the top 10 banks, first to launch, are already seeing big pick-ups from customers enjoying the product, and there’s more in the pipeline from what customers want.
Xendit announced an investment into Payex – how does this complement their entry into Malaysia?
ML: We found that Payex had a like-minded culture and we love what they’re doing to serve Malaysian SMEs. We believe in their mission, plan on partnering for a lot of the market entry
Is Xendit eyeing other acquisitions or investments into local payment players?
ML: We’re very open to looking into investments. We have a mission around infrastructure, which includes helping other companies to grow; done lots of investments and happy to do more, if interested do reach out.
Can you share your plans for empowering local businesses in Malaysia? How will Xendit’s offering differ from others and also benefit businesses?
ML: Xendit’s history is one of building new products for countries and making the whole pie bigger . For example, if we launch new products, we believe that is a win for everyone as it provides more access to infrastructure and products to people/businesses.
ML: We’ll continue offering more and differentiated products that other players aren’t serving, making it easier for businesses to start (accepting payments), such as a starter plan with no setup or annual fees.
What form of challenges are you foreseeing and are some of these challenges similar or different to the ones faced in other countries in the region?
ML: We understand that each market is different – how people operate, needs of businesses, dynamics of market. However, we expect to see similar challenges that we’ve seen in other markets. What gives us confidence is having Payex as a partner with local knowledge of the market and local problems
What challenges do you expect to face from competitors (if any) ?
ML: We really respect the existing payment players and think they’ve done strong work to date. We want to make the pie bigger and allow more people to go online and build products that Malaysia has never seen before
What will be your focus areas in 2023?
ML: YC famously says “make something people want”. We interpret this quite literally: try to understand what customers want then go and build things that don’t already exist in the market