SILOT – Singapore-based TechFin Company to Unify Mobile e-Payments in the Region with a Singular QR Code

SILOT – Singapore-based TechFin Company to Unify Mobile e-Payments in the Region with a Singular QR Code 

SINGAPORE, 13 September 2017 – Silot Pte. Ltd. a cloud-based TechFin startup based in Singapore, has successfully launched its cutting-edge unified QR code payments platform in Australia and is in active talks to bring it to Singapore and the region.

With an R&D center based out of Beijing, majority of the Silot key personnel hail from established payments and technology companies such as BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), PayPal, Garena, First Data, Braintree, and Lenovo. Hence, Silot is primed to transform consumer payments in Singapore and the region through unifying QR code technologies. They are backed by ZhenFund, a Chinese seed fund founded by renowned tech investment guru Xu Xiaoping, who has lent his weight behind Silot, making Silot the first investment by Zhen Fund in Southeast Asia.

In Australia, Silot have successfully launched with local partner Superpay to power a unified QR code payments platform for notable merchants such as UGG, L’Occitane and Sydney Skydivers among others, processing more than tens of millions of Australian dollars transactions monthly. Silot is currently in discussion with various major banking institutions in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia and is ready to transform the fragmented payment standards in the region through unified QR code payments technology.

A term coined originally by Alibaba’s Jack Ma, TechFin aims to build new financial system with technology, unlike fintech, which merely improves upon the technology present in the current financial system. This is something Silot promises to deliver with its full suite of data-driven commerce services. With the recent TechFin and e-payments emphasis in Singapore, and spotlight on the myriad of disparate payment methods and standards facing countries in Southeast Asia, the region is poised for a comprehensive transformation in the e-payments and e-wallets industry. As such, Silot’s leadership team hopes to be able to use their vast experience and exposure in China’s competitive e-payments and e-wallets space to grow the QR code payments landscape in Southeast Asia.

The Silot Merchant System plugs a gap in Singapore and Southeast Asia’s market by allowing physical store merchants to accept payments from consumer e-wallets in the consumer’s preferred home currencies, through a singular QR code while having all transaction data comprehensively recorded within the merchant web dashboard; freeing up the merchants from having to run multiple backend systems in order to accept different e-wallet payment methods.

This singular QR code integration consolidates disparate payment entities such as cash, credit/ debit cards, QR codes and Near Field Communications (NFC) so that consumers will no longer be overwhelmed by the variety and disparity of e-wallets. Meanwhile, this hassle-free payment solution would future-proof the payments strategy for banks all across Southeast Asia as any new e-wallet entrants can be easily integrated with the Silot Merchant System.

Flexibility, speed and cost efficiency are the key benefits for merchants, as Silot serves as a service integrator with a simple QR code overlay interface across banks’ existing Point-Of-Sales (POS) hardware infrastructures. This agility eliminates the need for multiple POS devices, making it a breeze to deploy the Silot Merchant System, while also offers a speedy turn-around time for banks without expensive hardware upgrades or complex system integration.

Additionally, with the magnitude of transaction data flow and aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI), merchants are able to tap into a comprehensive suite of commerce services such as business intelligence, marketing and anti-fraud solutions offered through the Silot Merchant System. Merchants can plug into Silot’s platform via a web or mobile app dashboard to market their business directly to Silot’s third-party consumer app partners. “Through the Silot Merchant System, merchants can achieve greater flexibility in customising marketing promotions, with higher accuracy through targeted marketing, allowing the merchants a clearer understanding on their marketing ROIs,” said Mr. Marc Liew, Head of Growth at Silot. “Silot’s deep learning platform works by matching the users’ purchasing preferences and merchants’ offer with multi-dimensional customer profiling and spending-habit recommendations.”

With the rapid rise of fintech in Southeast Asia, Silot is confident that the region is ready to embrace mobile e-payments aggregation and Singapore is in the best position to lead this metamorphosis. Southeast Asia saw the greatest number of fintech deals in 2016 and of the total 71 investment deals closed in the year, over half of them went to Singapore-based startups.

“When it comes to electronic payments, Singapore trails behind other cities, including those in China,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said recently. In light of this statement, Silot is hoping to propel Singapore to be amongst the top countries in revolutionising nationwide mobile e-payment standards with a consolidated e-payments standard through the deployment of unified QR code payments. Additionally, healthy government support in the form of regulations and infrastructures as well as Singapore’s reputation as an international financial hub are other key reasons Silot has chosen Singapore as their global headquarters.

Beyond Singapore, CEO Andy Li’s next steps ahead for Silot are clear. He says, “We aim to unite all available payment methods in the market, while working closely with banks and other financial institutions to connect merchants and consumers across international borders, forming a unified payment network between different banks, payment methods and e-wallets.

Silot Pte. Ltd. is a cloud-based TechFin startup based in Singapore and Beijing, providing cutting edge QR code payments technology and data-driven commerce solutions for merchant businesses. Already launched in Australia with partner Superpay, the Silot Merchant System empowers merchants with a unified payments aggregation platform facilitated through a singular QR code. Backed by ZhenFund, a Chinese seed fund founded by renowned tech investment guru Xu Xiaoping, and with an experienced and prolific management team hailing from BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), Paypal, Garena, First Data, Braintree, and Lenovo, Singapore is Silot’s Global HQ and launchpad for their unified QR code payments technology and merchant commerce solutions in their rapid expansion across Southeast Asia and other emerging markets.