Paywatch completes its US$20 million Series A equity round with strategic investments from Malaysia’s FWD-backed Artem Ventures and South Korea’s Kakao Pay

Paywatch, Southeast Asia’s leading fintech-driven employee benefit platform and largest Earned Wage Access (EWA) service provider, has today announced the completion of its Series A equity funding round with additional strategic investments from key investors. The funding comprises investments from Malaysian VC, Artem Ventures, investing out of their FWD Group-backed TIM Ventures Fund, and Kakao Pay, South Korea’s largest mobile payments and digital wallet platform.

The participation of Artem Ventures and Kakao Pay in the round gives Paywatch a US$20 million Series A equity raise. The early tranche of the equity round was led by New York-based VC, Third Prime, and a consortium of US investors including Vanderbilt University and the University of Illinois Foundation endowment funds. Combined with its credit facilities secured from tier 1 global banks, Paywatch has now raised over US$50 million to date. 

The investment marks a significant milestone for Paywatch as it accelerates its growth into a next-generation multi-product fintech platform. Dedicated to delivering financial wellness solutions for enterprises and employees across the region, this will see Paywatch further strengthen its suite of comprehensive employee benefits solutions and core competencies, including its globally recognized equitable Earned Wage Access (EWA) solution, insurance marketplace, global payments, and rewards. 

Backed by FWD Group, one of Asia’s leading insurers, Artem Ventures seeks to foster insurtech innovation across the region. This investment supports Paywatch’s mission to integrate micro-insurance and protection products into its platform as part of its Comprehensive Employee Wellness solution for enterprise clients.

Kakao Pay, a listed subsidiary of Kakao Corp (KRX: 377300), operates South Korea’s most widely used digital wallet and payments platform. As part of the partnership, Paywatch and Kakao Pay will develop enterprise solutions for companies in Southeast Asia and South Korea.

“We’re excited to welcome both Kakao Pay and Artem Ventures into the Paywatch family”, said Alex Kim, Co-Founder and President of Paywatch. “Together, we’re building bridges between markets, technology, and people – enabling companies to empower their employees with real financial freedom. These strategic investors bring not just capital, but deep ecosystem synergies and experience across insurance, payments, and financial technology that will accelerate Paywatch’s growth as a comprehensive financial wellness solution provider across Southeast Asia.” Founded in 2020, Paywatch is Asia’s largest provider of EWA and has pioneered the responsible EWA movement with multi-lateral organisations like the International Labour Organization and UNCDF. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Paywatch operates in Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. The company’s flagship EWA service allows employees to access their earned wages in real time, at the lowest equitable prices, improving financial wellbeing while supporting employers with powerful retention and productivity tools.

Paywatch’s solutions are deployed by Fortune 500 and blue-chip enterprises including DFI Retail (Guardian), Genting Group, Shangri-La Hotels, Lotus’s supermarkets (CP Group), Shake Shack, A&W, Lotte Group, Wilmar, among many others. To date, it has processed more than US$200 million in EWA transactions throughout its markets. The new investment will see Paywatch building on its market-leading EWA platform to become a multi-product fintech platform, integrating its own proprietary instant cross-border remittance infrastructure, employee rewards system, micro-insurance, fee-free bill payments and more.

This expansion reflects Paywatch’s vision to become Asia’s premier employee benefits platform for enterprises - one that is focused on delivering comprehensive financial solutions for employees.  Paywatch today combines AI-native infrastructure and world-class payments technology with embedded financial products to deliver transparent, equitable, and accessible financial solutions to underserved workforces.

“Financial stability is a fundamental right,” Kim said. “We are on a mission to build an equitable system where every worker can access secure, equitably priced financial services. For these workers, this level of financial freedom and inclusion should not be seen as a privilege, but as standard.”

“We’re thrilled to invest in an innovative company like Paywatch,” said Zhen Hui, Managing Partner of Artem Ventures. “Paywatch not only delivers tangible social impact but has also proven its ability to scale rapidly across multiple markets in Asia. This is a rare example of a homegrown Malaysian fintech that combines meaningful financial inclusion with the operational and technological strength to serve top-tier clients. We’re excited to support Paywatch as it continues to lead and redefine the financial wellness landscape for employees across the region.”