(Bangkok)

Southeast Asia is bursting on to the Fintech scene with a host of new companies. Ascend Money, is one of Thailand’s darlings and just became the country’s newest unicorn. Ascend found early funding from Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. and Charlene Pokphand Group, and just secured $1.5 billion in its latest round of funding. Ascend plans to use the funding to improve its mobile wallet app TrueMoney. They view this latest funding as a testament to the positive ecosystem in Thailand for start ups and financial technology companies. Still Ascend’s $14 billion operation that spans Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, faces competition from established financial firms in the region like Siam Commercial Bank Plc and other financial start ups.

FINSUM: This story is a reflection of the bourgeoning Fintech industry in the South East Asia region, no doubt the leader in emerging markets for new technology companies.