Pace acquires Rely, targets reopening sectors and Asia expansion
This time last year, Pace Enterprise was among the newest kids on the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) block. The local fintech company had launched its BNPL solution in January 2021, nearly five years after competitor Rely. Pace told The Edge Singapore that it had signed on more than 500 merchant partners since a soft launch in November 2020.
A year later, Pace has kept up with the market — and some more. On March 30, Pace announced the acquisition of Rely, Singapore’s first BNPL provider. This marked Asia’s first acquisition between BNPL operators.
While Pace declines to reveal the sum it paid for the takeover, the acquisition brings popular merchant partners Qoo10 Singapore, Zalora, JD Sports and SK Jewellery Group into its fold. As of March, Pace has decupled its merchant count from last year to over 5,000 points-of-sale across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.
“The acquisition with Rely was the outcome of months of discussion, and was a natural fit because both teams had the same vision of democratising financial services across Asia,” says Pace founder and veteran entrepreneur Turochas “T” Fuad. “As an early adopter, the Rely team have an intimate understanding of the market for BNPL in Singapore and Malaysia, and bring a depth of expertise to drive forward our shared mission.”
Fuad was last at WeWork, where he served as managing director of Southeast Asia and Korea for close to three years before his departure in June 2020. He had joined WeWork after Spacemob — the Singapore-based coworking start-up he founded — was acquired in 2017.
To be sure, Pace was never a lightweight upstart. The official launch of its BNPL service in January 2021 was accompanied by news of a “high seven-figure” seed round coled by Vertex Ventures, a Temasek subsidiary; and Indonesia’s Alpha JWC.
In 2020, Rely itself secured capital from Polaris, the strategic partnerships arm of Goldbell Financial Services, to finance up to $100 million in BNPL transactions.
All Rely employees will take on new roles at Pace, says CEO Fuad. “Rely co-founders Hizam Ismail and Mohamed Abbas will continue to focus on business development, while Prakash Raja will continue to play a key role in product engineering.”
Vacation now, pay later
A week after announcing the acquisition, Pace unveiled two further offerings in the BNPL space. The first plays on the reopening theme, with Pace extending its BNPL services to the hospitality industry.
An exclusive partnership with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts lets Pace users stay at participating hotels across Malaysia before fulfilling their payments over three months at no interest. The payment option also extends to hotel services like dining, massages and spas.
“The foray into hospitality tourism is a key milestone achievement for Pace as we continue to expand our reach,” says Fuad. “In time for a rebound in travel and tourism, we are looking forward to supporting it by providing flexible payment solutions.”
Aside from hospitality, Fuad notes growing demand for BNPL in other areas. “As Singapore reopens and its economy continues to recover, we expect to see the demand for BNPL to grow not just within the hospitality, travel and event sectors, but also as a payment option for F&B and other daily purchases.”
That same week, Pace also announced the Pace Card, a virtual card that “lives on the Pace app”. The bridging tool could help ease new users into the BNPL concept, especially alongside Pace Perks, an accompanying rewards programme that converts 5% of purchase value into discounts for subsequent purchases.
“Young consumers definitely prefer digital solutions, and the Pace Card fits right in,” Fuad tells The Edge Singapore. “Our virtual card can be stored on Google Pay, Apple Pay, and even has its own Google Chrome extension. The Pace Card also makes it easier to shop directly from the Pace app, and boasts five times as many rewards with our loyalty programme, Pace Perks.”
The Pace Card is now available in Singapore and will be rolled out in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan by 2Q2022, says the company.
Fuad has his sights set on Taiwan and South Korea next. “We have other Southeast Asian markets on our radar as well. We are currently on track to hit US$1 billion [$1.4 billion] in annualised sales and 1 million customers by end-2022.”
He adds: “Our focus for 2022 is to scale within markets as we develop a more intimate understanding of our merchant partners’ needs and consumer behaviour across Asia. By leveraging data and insights from our fast-growing BNPL platform, we aim to continue developing more innovative solutions and build our product portfolio to meet our broader goal of democratising financial services across Asia.”