JAKARTA: After receiving funding from Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP last year, Indonesian-owned electronic payment solutions provider Doku announced its acquisition of senangPay, one of the leading online payment gateways in Malaysia. senangPay was acquired by Doku and received funding of US$7.5 million (RM33 million).
Doku's chief operating officer Nabilah Alsagoff said the recent acquisition of senangPay marks the beginning of Doku's expansion overseas and its efforts to reach a wider business segment, especially SMEs.
"As a leading payments provider in Indonesia with the widest suite of online and offline payments products serving over 150,000 merchants, we look forward to offering our innovative products to similar businesses in Malaysia. We believe the opportunity to enter Malaysia is all the more attractive given the similar socio-cultural backgrounds of our two countries," she said.
SenangPay is an online payment gateway that was established in 2015. It is managed by Simplepay Gateway Sdn Bhd and registered with Bank Negara Malaysia as a Merchant Acquiring Services provider. senangPay is also registered with Mastercard International as a Payment Facilitator (PF) for the Asia Pacific region.
As an online payment gateway, senangPay helps Malaysian businesses easily accept customer payments through a range of methods which includes credit card, debit card, internet banking (FPX) and all majors e-wallet providers in Malaysia. Today, senangPay is amongst the Top 5 payment gateways in Malaysia and the company has served over 15,000 merchants, with a team of more than 45 people.
Through Doku's acquisition, senangPay plans to strengthen and expand services beyond online payment gateway, adopting new services such as e-wallet, remittance, and offline transaction such as Tap On Glass, M2M (mobile to mobile) etc. With these new offerings, senangPay will enable the transition of its merchants from brick-and-mortar models into the digital era, in line with the Malaysian Government's "Malaysia Digital" initiative.
"When we set up senangPay, we wanted to create an alternative payment gateway for the small medium business especially for business owners that lack technical skills and not familiar with digital tools. Operating online business is not so affordable so we started something that is more cost effective," said senangPay CEO Mansor Abd Rahman.
Our gateway is secured and we provide reliable service and superior support. We are beginning to see more merchants using us. So, I believe this acquisition is beneficial and necessary for the company's growth as well for everyone internally and our merchants. By closing the gap between the two countries, and combining expertise from two companies, I expect to see significant improvements in areas we may have never expected, as well as in areas we wish to improve," he said.
As a testament to senangPay's market innovation, the company recently launched senangzakat, a convenient platform to pay a variety of zakat (donations) in Malaysia. This new offering has already gained strong traction and positive responses from users which have highlighted its user-friendly experience. senangPay has also been named as a "Top Performing Partner for Go eCommerce Onboarding Campaign & Shop Malaysia Online Campaign 2021" by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) for helping online business owners swiftly migrate to digital during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.