YouTrip plans for SG innovation lab, undertakes brand refresh

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Singapore based financial startup YouTrip will establish an innovation lab in Singapore to further strengthen the country as its regional headquarters, and fast-track its technology capabilities and product development to capture the rise of the multi-currency payments landscape. Concurrently, the brand is also going to undergo a brand refresh.

In a press statement, YouTrip said it will double its workforce by 2022, with over 50 new job openings in Singapore across engineering and product development. The new positions will add on to YouTrip's current headcount of close to 100 across all its locations. According to YouTrip, the multi-currency payments landscape is gathering steam in SEA, with the cross-border payment market in Asia Pacific poised to reach $295 billion in 2021. YouTrip’s expanded workforce in the innovation lab will be crucial in driving the development of a new suite of multi-currency products and features to serve the changing needs of its users; including a brand refresh and the launch of YouTrip Business.

YouTrip's brand refresh will reflect the fintech startup’s transformation from a travel wallet to a broader digital payments app that drives its mission of simplifying multi-currency spending.

In addition to debuting a new brand identity, the YouTrip app will also be redesigned with new features such as a virtual card, an interactive exchange rates dashboard, exclusive deals, and the ability to hold more popular currencies in their wallet - all aimed at elevate consumers’ multi-currency spending.

Meanwhile, YouTrip Business is a new multi-currency corporate credit card aimed at helping companies of all sizes save money and time on cross-border payments. Compared to the consumer product, YouTrip business will allow higher spending limits while transacting at the best exchange rates in over 150 currencies, with credit terms offered to selected business account users. YouTrip Business will also enable companies to issue multi-currency cards to employees, and streamline all expenses in one platform.

Both the brand refresh and YouTrip Business are currently in the development stage and are scheduled to launch in early 2022. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to YouTrip for comment.

Caecilia Chu, co-founder and CEO of YouTrip, said that despite the travel restrictions, it has continued to register a significant growth in overseas online spending, further underscoring the importance of cross-border payments for consumers and businesses. "With this shift in spending, our advancement in innovation to offer a wider suite of multi-currency is timely, and drives our goal of elevating the cross-border payment experience for our users in Singapore and the region. We are incredibly excited to embark on this next phase of our business growth and Singapore's developed tech ecosystem provides the conducive conditions to propel this forward," she added.

Singapore’s robust tech environment has enabled fintech players such as YouTrip to propel technology adoption and innovation-driven growth in the financial sector. Aligned with Singapore’s efforts to nurture future cohorts of fintech talents and strengthen its position as the region’s leading fintech hub, YouTrip will also launch a Software Engineering Graduate Programme. The two-year training initiative will provide entry-level engineers with the core knowledge, mentorship and job rotations to master domain and technical expertise valuable for today’s fintech landscape.

YouTrip was first launched in Singapore in 2018 and subsequently in Thailand, in partnership with Kasikornbank, in 2019. Earlier this year, the multi-currency travel wallet inked a six-year partnership with Visa to accelerate its expansion into the rest of Southeast Asia. Leveraging on Visa's global network of 70 million merchant locations worldwide, YouTrip aims to enable Southeast Asia travellers with access to cross-border payment solutions such as wholesale exchange rates and no foreign currency transaction fees in over 150 currencies.

YouTrip said at the start of the year, it was also looking at Malaysia and the Philippines as its next potential markets to build up its presence in by the end of 2021. According to The Business Times, YouTrip said the two markets present massive untapped potential with outbound travel expenditure expected to reach US$12.4 billion and US$12.0 billion from Malaysia and Philippines respectively in 2021. YouTrip also added that its partnership with Visa presents the opportunity to bring its hyper localised, "Truly No Fees" proposition to a growing group of digitally adept travellers.

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