Axiata Digital’s fintech arm Boost has its sights expanding its suite of services and deepening its regional presence following a year of growth in revenues and product innovation.
Boost reported that its user base grew to over 9.6 million and had nearly doubled its merchant base to over 438,000 touchpoints by end of 2021.
For its next steps, Boost will be prioritising the expansion of its Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) products in 2022 by leveraging its large active consumer base, expansive merchant network, settlement and payment infrastructure, as well as digital underwriting and collection capabilities.
The company will also be expanding its B2B platforms with a goal to enable SMEs to participate more broadly in the digital economy.
Boost recently launched a food delivery platform called Boost Makan and is working on launching a platform for SMEs to source raw materials at competitive rates.
Focus will also be placed on enhancing the functionalities and capabilities of its merchant app to enable merchants to leverage analytics and insights to scale their business.
Boost added that it will also be reinvesting in its customers in 2022 and beyond.
The most recent initiative was a refresh of BoostUP, its loyalty program based on three key principles – increasing intrinsic value of the loyalty program via expansive rewards, a more transparent and simpler earn structure, and enabling an easier tier up system.
A huge part of Boost’s plans is to replicate its playbook in new markets, with South Asia and especially Bangladesh as potential foothold opportunities.
With Indonesia being a key growth engine, Boost completed a 68.75% equity acquisition in an Indonesian licensed entity, PT Creative Mobile Adventure in May 2021.
PT Creative Mobile Adventure operates a telco supply chain model financing business under the brand KIMO.
Today, Boost Indonesia has grown 5X year-on-year through the pandemic to disburse upwards of IDR 250 billion per month.
“Today, we have presented a strong proposition as a fintech provider coupled with extensive experience as a scale lender with an eWallet business and a profitable cross border payments business.
If our digital bank license bid is successful, it will take our fintech business to the next level, completing our ambition of becoming a full-spectrum fintech player to create an inclusive digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants across the region,”
said Sheyantha Abeykoon, CEO of Boost
Axiata and RHB formed a consortium to apply for a digital banking license from Bank Negara Malaysia. As equity partners in the consortium, Boost will own a majority stake of 60%, while RHB will own the remaining 40% in the digital bank.
