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That's a very interesting headline...Spreading its wings across SOUTH EAST ASIA

Popularity of buy now, pay later (BNPL) offerings continues to soar. It seems like there is no stopping the BNPL sector as an increasing number of users continue to adopt the lucrative offerings, as they involve interest-free instalment payments.

Amid the e-commerce frenzy stirred by the ongoing pandemic crisis, the BNPL space players have seen tremendous growth opportunities. For example, the Australian BNPL sector has witnessed various domestic companies achieving spiralling growth in a considerably lesser time, along with collaborations in the international space.

IOUpay Limited (ASX:IOU) is an Australia-based fintech and digital commerce software solutions and services provider, actively pursuing BNPL opportunities in South East Asia.

In the recent past, IOU has achieved major milestones as part of its plan to be a leading operator in the digital payments and BNPL sectors across South East Asia. Few of these milestones include completing a significant capital raising program, acquiring a money lending licence, and entering partnerships to deliver its BNPL offerings.

Largest Single Raising in IOU History

Last month, IOU completed a strongly supported placement, raising $50 million within a span of 48 hours. This marked the largest single raising in the history of IOU.

The solid support for the placement significantly exceeded available capacity. The campaign represented a major milestone in the company’s roadmap to expand its existing and new product offerings and accelerate the growth potential of that expansion.

With the placement proceeds and existing cash reserves, the company boasts of a strong capital platform to execute its market validated business plan.

Partnerships with EasyStore and iPay88

In early February 2021, IOU inked a merchant referral agreement with online shopping specialist EasyStore Commerce Sdn Bhd. The agreement, with a one-year renewable term, empowers the merchants and customers of EasyStore to use the BNPL services of IOU.

Recently, the Company entered another merchant referral agreement with iPay88 (M) Sdn Bhd, the dominant online payments brand in Malaysia. iPay88 will work with IOUpay on merchant acquisition for their BNPL solutions.

Acquisition of Lending Licence

It is mandatory for a company to comply with Malaysia’s Money Lending Act 1951 (MA1951 Licence) and Financial Services Act 2013 to offer BNPL services to consumers and merchants in the country.

Having secured the Malaysian Money Lending Licence in January 2021, IOU believes that this is a critical step taken ahead of schedule.

This further enables the Company to add momentum to its plans to take advantage of the substantial opportunities in the BNPL and digital payments space. Moreover, the demand for IOU’s product offerings have continued to be strong, notwithstanding the regional COVID-19 situation.

IOUpay has a proprietary best-in-class BNPL platform and has upgraded its digital payments offering. Consequently, the Company is seeking to boost its competitive advantage and recurring revenue, while reducing costs and securing large and valuable strategic partnerships.

The stock was trading at AUD 0.445 on 26 March 2021 (AEDT 10:54 AM), up 2.298% from its last close.