Super app aspirants Swag and GCash want to save the cash-strapped and excluded

In The Top Up this week, we look at how Swag combines fintech with employment services as well as GCash’s plans to go public by the end of the year. [Read from your browser]( The Top Up 💵 Welcome to The Top Up! Delivered every fortnight via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in fintech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. Written by Simon Huang Journalist Hello {NAME} I cringe whenever I hear the hackneyed term “super app.” So I was rather skeptical when I first heard that the Australian HR tech firm Employment Hero was launching Swag, which it called an “employment super app.” But as my colleague Melissa notes in this week’s Big Story, some of the features offered on Swag may be genuinely beneficial to employees, especially in these financially perilous times. For example, users of the app can take advantage of its earned-wage access service InstaPay to get their wages in advance of payday. Used responsibly, this may help cash-strapped workers reduce their reliance on more expensive options like credit card debt. Yet the question still remains whether super apps are necessary. Some employers have complained that the various benefits offered on Swag are a distraction from Employment Hero’s staple HR solutions and prefer a time when the app was “employment-focused.” Unfortunately, the interests of management and workers aren’t always aligned, and it’s still unsure whether Employment Hero’s new initiative will succeed. Meanwhile, this week’s Hot Take examines a super app in the Philippines. GCash, a unit of Globe Telecom, is said to be ready to go public by the end of the year. I take a closer look at the company and why it may entice investors. -- Simon  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORY [Employment Hero’s new super app gives workers main character treatment]( Swag, the Australia-headquartered firm’s “employment super app,” melds payments and earned-wage access with HR tools to cater to employees.  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE HOT TAKE Globe Telecom to cash in with GCash IPO Here’s what happened: - Philippine telco Globe Telecom said this month that its mobile money wallet unit GCash is [IPO-ready](. - Ernest Cu, Globe Telecom’s CEO and president, said the unit is growing and profitable. - GCash is expected to be ready for a listing by the end of the year. Here’s our take: The listing of GCash will be a watershed moment. It’s the first IPO of a Philippine consumer tech company. GCash would be Southeast Asia’s first pure-play fintech major to go public too. At its most recent fundraising in 2021, Mynt, the operator of GCash, was valued at [over US$2 billion](. The region’s publicly listed tech stalwarts like GoTo, Grab, and Sea all have financial services divisions, but these are part of a wider group offering services like ecommerce or ride-hailing. While the Indonesia Stock Exchange is home to a number of listed digital banks like Bank Jago and Bank Neo Commerce, both players were previously traditional banks that tech companies then transformed. GCash, which was [launched in 2004]( has come a long way. From an SMS-based money transfer service, its business now includes digital payments, savings, loans, as well as investment and insurance products. Demand for shares in the company is expected to be strong. It has over [76 million users]( which is about 71% of the total population of the Philippines. It also has room to grow further: In 2021, [44% of adults]( in the country did not have a formal bank account. According to Cu, GCash, which saw rapid adoption during the pandemic, has been profitable for [“almost two years”](. This will be music to the ears of investors who are now focused on the bottom line. GCash’s partnership with Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, which is a GCash investor, has also expanded the Philippine unit’s reach beyond Asia. Earlier this month, GCash [announced]( the expansion of its cross-border payment service to four European countries in collaboration with [Alipay+]( Ant Group’s payments and marketing solution. Through the partnership, a select group of merchants in the UK can accept payments using the GCash app. See also: [Behind Ant Group’s revived SEA ambitions]( One question will be where the company intends to list. The Philippine Stock Exchange would be a natural choice. However, the firm may secure a higher valuation by listing in Hong Kong or the US, both of which have a much deeper capital base and greater familiarity with tech companies. Whatever the case, a publicly traded GCash will serve as an important benchmark for other fintech companies in the region.  --------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Also check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of the fintech scene [here](. 1️⃣ [Durianpay charts expansion as TPV run rate grows 5x YoY]( The Singapore and Indonesia-based payments firm plans to grow its 40-member team across product, tech, operations, finance, and business development functions after a solid first half performance. 2️⃣ [MUFG Bank invests $27m in Indian cloud lending platform Lentra]( Lentra speeds up the lending process by enabling financial institutions to automate retail finance and credit assessment. 3️⃣ [PolicyStreet bags $15.3m from Malaysian gov’t to bolster insurance products]( Since being established in 2016, the insurtech firm has served over 50,000 SMEs and 500,000 gig workers who belong to the bottom 40% of Malaysian households by income. 4️⃣ [Aspire turns profitable, eyes APAC expansion]( The milestone comes less than four months since the B2B fintech company closed its US$100 million series C funding round.  --------------------------------------------------------------- FYI [Regional cross-border payments open new growth avenues for Indonesian fintech]( Five months after its launch in September 2022, Indonesia’s QR payment service in Thailand racked up half a million dollars in transaction value.  --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preferences center. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or ideas, feel free to get in touch with Terence, our editor-in-chief, at terence@techinasia.com. See you in a fortnight! P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center]( or [unsubscribe](. You can also break our hearts and remove yourself from all Tech in Asia emails over [here](  Copyright © 2023 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894