TikTok signs payments pact with Advance Intelligence in Malaysia

TikTok’s ecommerce arm struck a partnership with Advance Intelligence Group, a financial technology startup, to expand its online retail push in Malaysia.

Advance Intelligence, backed by Warburg Pincus, will offer its Atome “buy now, pay later” service as a payment option on TikTok Shop in Malaysia, it said in a statement on July 21. The service lets consumers defer payments for their purchase over a period of three to six months.

The deal is a boost for Singapore-based Advance Intelligence, whose payments business has gained tens of millions of users in South-East Asia since its founding in 2016. The startup has raised over US$700mil in total, including a round in 2021 that valued it at more than US$2bil.

ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok plans to invest billions of dollars in South-East Asia over the next three to five years, betting on the region to spur growth for its ecommerce arm and take on incumbent online retailers such as Sea Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Malaysia’s two biggest ecommerce players by market share, Sea’s Shopee and Alibaba’s Lazada, also offer BNPL payment options. Malaysia’s ecommerce gross merchandise value is projected to reach US$18bil by 2025, up from US$14bil in 2022, Atome said, citing Statista figures. – Bloomberg