Skype co-founder’s Oriente banks $105m from some of Southeast Asia’s richest families

Southeast Asia’s 600 million-strong market is one of the most rapidly growing in the world. Despite this, only 27 percent of its population have bank accounts, data from professional services firm KPMG shows. In poorer countries like Cambodia, the numbers go even lower at 5 percent.

Skype co-founder Geoffrey Prentice aims to bring those numbers up by building financial identities for the unbanked through his newest venture, Oriente. And he’s just gotten the support of some of region’s richest families.

Hong Kong-based Oriente welcomes Malaysia’s Berjaya Group, the Philippines’ JG Summit Holdings, and Indonesia’s Sinar Mas as investors in its series A round, worth a whopping US$105 million. The investment follows joint venture deals that Oriente forged with the latter two conglomerates.

Read more: TechInAsia
​Photo from: Oriente