By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 24th, 2024
As Lightnet has secured a Series A funding, its CEO suggests the funds will be used for more fintech acquisitions. The platform is also planning to expand.
The owner of popular Fortune magazine, Chatchaval Jiaravanon, plans to do a lot more in the fintech sector, through acquisitions. Jiaravanon, who also has a fintech startup called Lightnet, believes that acquisitions will pretty much change the game. In a recent interview as reported by Bloomberg, Jiaravanon said:
“Acquisitions will be the quickest way for growth in a fast-changing environment.”
Chatchaval’s father, Sumet Jiaravanon, is the executive chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand’s largest business conglomerate. Chatchaval acquired Fortune magazine back in 2018 in a deal worth $150 million.
Lightnet Fintech Company
Jiaravanon is the chairman of a fintech startup called Lightnet. Just like a few other offerings already available in the industry, Lightnet seeks to facilitate cross-border payments. The company is a blockchain platform that specifically targets the financial and remittance market in Southeast Asia. Even though it is based in Bangkok, Lightnet estimates that the market in the region is worth about $150 billion.
Jiaravanon is also looking to expand its presence to other countries including Hong Kong, Singapore and China. This is in addition to Vietnam and Thailand. The company also wants to double its number of employees.
Lightnet’s offering is fully based on Stellar’s blockchain technology. Using Stellar, it intends to disrupt existing options with its own platform expected to be much faster and more cost-effective.
It also hopes that in the near future, Lightnet will help connect areas and people who currently do not have enough access. Lightnet vice-chairman Tribodi Arunanondchai stated:
“It’s vital that we build an ecosystem to provide Lightnet access to our partners’ vast user base and facilitate deeper penetration into local markets. We project that within three years, Lightnet will facilitate over $50 billion worth of annual transactions through our industry-leading partner network.”
Recent Funding Round
Lightnet has just completed a Series A funding round, successfully raising more $31.2 million. The round was led by a few financial giants including the United Overseas Bank based in Singapore and Hanwha Investment & Securities from South Korea. A press release published on Friday mentions other participants of the funding round. They include Seven Bank, HashKey Capital, Signum Capital, Du Capital, and Uni-President Asset Holdings.
The Future for Lightnet
In the press release, Lightnet Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Suvicha Sudchai also states that Lightnet’s main platform is ready. Sudchai says that the platform’s first transaction will be done sometime in the first quarter of the year. Furthermore, Lightnet plans integration with many other renowned payment partners, a move set to supposedly displace SWIFT. The partners include MoneyGram, Yeahka, Seven Bank and many more. It will also add up to 500,000 cash agents across different locations, to facilitate the transactions.
The company looks to improve financial offerings, but also help blockchain technology. Lightnet will likely announce acquisitions sometime soon.
“By harnessing the combined strength of blockchain technology, local market insight, Pan-Asia partnership and its proprietary ecosystem, Lightnet accelerated the mass adoption of blockchain technology, delivering accessible and efficient financial services for the many.”
Just like Lightnet, MoneyGram, in partnership with Ripple, is also looking to change the cross-border remittance game and improve crypto and blockchain adoption.