GoBear ceases operations; FinTech to begin an orderly closure process

By Edil Corneille

Singapore-based GoBear, a financial services and data platform, has made the decision to cease operations and begin an orderly closure of the business.

The company mentioned that despite making progress in its growth and transformation plans during 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic has made the operating and fundraising environment very challenging and GoBear has so far been unable to raise more funds to continue operations. The factors included a prolonged period of weakened demand for some financial products and services, in particular travel insurance.

The business closure will be conducted in a phased and controlled manner over a short time frame and in adherence with local laws and regulations across the markets that GoBear is operating in.

Employees will be provided with their required notice periods and salaries. GoBear’s intention is said to be to fulfil existing commitments to employees, partners, vendors, and work with the relevant authorities to ensure adherence to local laws and regulations.

“GoBear has made the difficult decision to close the business. Our purpose was to improve the financial health of people across Asia and I’m proud and grateful for the contributions that all our employees and partners have made towards that mission,” said Adrian Chng, CEO of GoBear.

“This is a difficult time for our employees, and our priority is to conduct the process with the utmost care and guidance to our staff. We take our responsibility to our customers, employees, partners, and vendors very seriously and we intend to fulfil our existing commitments to them as part of an orderly business closure process,” Chng added.

GoBear first launched in 2015 as a metasearch engine and grew into financial services and data platform offering consumers a one-stop platform to search and buy products. The website is active in 7 markets: Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. To date, GoBear has served over 55 million users searching for more than 2,000 personal finance products.