CompareAsia Group Capital Limited (MoneyHero), a Singapore and Hong Kong-based financial products platform, is planning to go public in partnership with Bridgetown Holdings Limited, a special purpose acquisition company formed as a collaboration between Pacific Century Group and Thiel Capital LLC.
MoneyHero said in a statement that they have entered into a business combination agreement.
Upon closing, the combined company, MoneyHero Limited (PubCo), is expected to begin trading on NASDAQ under the ticker symbols “MNY” and “MNYWW.”
The company believes that the listing in partnership with Bridgetown will enable it to accelerate its market expansion organically and inorganically, capitalizing on the capital raised from the business combination and future access to international capital markets.
Furthermore, the transaction will enhance the company’s profile and brand, and boost its ability to attract and retain top talent to further strengthen its competitive position and capture the fast-growing market opportunity in the digital distribution of financial products in the high-growth region of Greater Southeast Asia.
According to the statement, the combined company will have an enterprise value of approximately $342 million on a post-money basis, including up to approximately $154 million of cash held in Bridgetown’s trust account, assuming no redemptions by Bridgetown’s public shareholders.
The transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of 2023.
MoneyHero Group’s management team, led by Chief Executive Officer Prashant Aggarwal and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Shaun Kraft, will continue to lead the public company after the completion of the Transaction
“As a leading online financial comparison platform in Greater Southeast Asia, with a vast network of 9.8 million monthly unique users and more than 270 commercial partner relationships across five key markets, we have established ourselves as a trusted platform in the region,” said Prashant Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer, MoneyHero Group.
At MoneyHero, he said the firm believes in harnessing the power of innovation to create better futures for its customers, its people, and its partners.
“Our commitment to deliver exceptional value and seamless user experiences has enabled us to achieve a strong track record of revenue growth, positioning us as a key player in the personal finance aggregation and comparison sector,
“We are delighted to join forces with Bridgetown as we accelerate our mission to make all of life’s financial decisions a time saving and rewarding experience,” he added.
According to him, this process of becoming a public company will enable the firm to further enhance its platform and continue its journey of transforming lives through accessible and innovative financial solutions.
“We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and look forward to the positive impact we will create as we embark on this new chapter of growth and success,” he said.
Matt Danzeisen, Chairman, Bridgetown, said that MoneyHero is empowering financial service providers in the Greater Southeast Asia region to transform the way they connect with consumers—and consumers in turn are benefiting from a trusted and transparent online platform offering access to a wide variety of financial products.
“This business model promises significant growth potential given the demographic evolution across Greater Southeast Asia,
“With continued strong leadership by the management team and fresh funding from this transaction, we believe MoneyHero is poised to penetrate deeper in the Greater Southeast Asia market and to become a household online platform for retail financial offerings in the region,” he added.
Founded in 2014, MoneyHero was formerly known as Hyphen Group or CompareAsia Group.
The firm is a personal finance aggregation and comparison company in Greater Southeast Asia, operating in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines and Malaysia with respective local market brands.
Simultaneous with this announcement, the company has rebranded to MoneyHero Group from Hyphen Group, which it will use as its umbrella brand going forward.
MoneyHero had approximately 3.7 million MoneyHero Group members as of March 31, 2023, approximately 9.8 million monthly unique users in March 2023 and over 270 commercial partner relationships as of March 31, 2023.
MoneyHero is primarily involved in the operation of online financial comparison platforms and related services for credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, insurance and other financial products, connecting consumers, financial product providers and content and channel partners.
The firm helps consumers with effective decision making by providing guidance through informative content and easy-to-use product comparison tools.
Its main business pillars are (i) online financial comparison platforms, where we provide financial guidance to consumers by offering a broad range of financial and lifestyle content, product comparison tools, and financial product marketplaces on our websites, and (ii) business to business (B2B) business (Creatory), where it expands its user reach by partnering with other third-party online content and channel partners.