TechCreate and Diginius merge into an integrated FinTech enterprise, TechCreate Group

By Edlyn Cardoza

TechCreate Solutions Private Limited, a Singapore-based technology services group specialising in innovative digital payment and digitalisation solutions, and Diginius Pte. Ltd., a provider for IT security and infrastructure solutions, recently announced a merger between both companies via a share swap transaction that will value the enlarged FinTech enterprise, TechCreate Group, at USD$30 million, based on a valuation that was recently completed by one of the Big 4 accounting firms.

TechCreate has been at the forefront of technology innovation as a trusted leader in digital solutions. Since its establishment, it has developed its own proprietary Real-Time Payment Engine (RTE) that can further enhance the payment capabilities of financial and banking institutions. Leveraging its technological expertise, legal experience, and extensive operational track record, TechCreate has successfully enabled end-to-end digital solutions (such as payment gateways, API gateways, and blockchain solutions) for several banking and financial institutions in Asia.

With Diginius’ strengths in intelligence and security for concrete cyber resilience, it has built a growing track record focusing on delivering technology solutions related to cyber security, hyper-converged IT infrastructure and secure application services. Diginius also works with some of the industry’s indisputable experts in cyber security and secured infrastructure services, combined with market-leading technologies to provide a springboard for the next phase of digital transformation.

The current CEO of TechCreate, Lim Heng Hai, will be appointed as the Group CEO of TechCreate Group, while the current CEO of Diginius, Ronald Vong, will be designated as the Managing Partner of TechCreate Group.

According to a Mckinsey report issued in November 2020, Asia has outpaced all other regions in terms of payments-revenue growth over the past several years. The region is also the largest contributor to global payments revenue, generating over $900 billion in 2019, nearly half the global total. Asia’s payments industry is expected to return to mid-to-high single-digit growth rates and, by 2022 or 2023, generating more than $1 trillion in annual revenue.

Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated Asia’s payments megatrends. The rapidly expanding number of connected and digitally active consumers with booming e-commerce markets reinforces the need for digital solutions. The competitive landscape was simultaneously heating up, with the entry of formidable new players–including telecommunications firms, FinTechs, “big techs,” and other conglomerates–spurring incumbents to step up their innovation efforts.

Meanwhile, regulators sought to standardise infrastructure while encouraging competition, fostering the introduction of real-time payments, digital know your customer (KYC), and various local payment schemes.

With a focus on powering the future of payments in Asia, TechCreate Group aims to provide cutting-edge innovation and technology capability to enhance value creation for its customers as follows:

• Expanded business scale with integrated solutions: Having the capabilities to provide more comprehensive and integrated technology solutions related to payment and digitalisation platforms to serve new and existing customers across Asia.
• Strong potential to create new customer value propositions: Ability to broaden its reach and serve diverse customer segments with differentiated requirements and objectives, thereby creating the opportunity and potential to develop proprietary insights and innovative solutions aligned with the new trends of payments and digitalisation in Asia.

Commenting on the merger, Lim Heng Hai, Group CEO of TechCreate Group, said, “This is a transformational transaction for both companies, creating an enlarged company with end-to-end digital payment offerings in high-growth verticals as economies in Asia accelerate their digitisation roadmap. With our combined capabilities, it amplifies our mission be a leading innovative, customer-centric and eco-friendly technology solution provider in Asia.”

Ronald Vong, the Managing Partner of TechCreate Group, added, “We are confident that the strengths of the combined company will enable meaningful growth to stakeholders, delivering new value and insights to better serve our markets and customers. At the same time, it can accelerate our growth and more effectively capitalise on our pipeline and broader market opportunities within the banking and financial industries in Asia.”