Despite Thailand and Southeast Asia being arguably the world’s fastest growing internet hub, the problem of online payment service is still a huge issue that many online retailers and shop owners face today. For a long time, many stores relied on private methods which meant an increase chance of frauds, delays, and no option for refunds.

This was until start-up royalty Omise (pronounced “Oh-Mee-Say”) created a solution to all of that with their B2B online payment gateway that aims to provide an efficient payment system that is simple and easy to use for both merchants and customers. With an aim to make Southeast Asia a “cashless” society, Omise helps merchants to receive payments from a variety of different platforms, and also offers a refund feature as well as a way to save the details of regular customers for future payment.

Donnie Harinsut COO and Jun Hasegawa CEO

The Story behind Omise

Back in June 2013, co-founder CEO Jun Hasegawa and COO Ezara “Donnie” Harinsut started what was initially an e-commerce website based in Thailand, only to have difficulty in finding an effective payment gateway that reached their standards. The pair turned their focus to creating this solution instead, using Amazon Web Service as their first platform.

Now, the end product that Omise have successfully created is a leading payment method that sets itself apart from others in the Fintech industry. The secret behind Omise’s success is its focus on being easy, simple and cheap – there is little identification required during set up, no commitment needed from the businesses, comparatively low transaction fees (3.65%) and high security guaranteed. On top of this, businesses can receive payment from a variety of platforms including ATMs and online banking with a plan to work with future systems including eRetail, digital marketplaces, mobile top-ups, insurance and e-Government.

Achievements

In fact, the system’s security measures are arguably one of its most impressive features. Omise achieved a PCI-DSS 3.1 certification from the PCI Security Standards Council for its servers, making it compliant to meet all requirements from VISA and Master. The system also comes with an active GeolP/Proxy detector, real-time monitoring of IP addresses and high-quality fraud detection algorithms. This means that customers and businesses alike don’t need to worry about the possibility of fraud in their payment process.

It is no surprise, then, that the company has already received a whopping $25 million in funding in just the short three years since its inception, making it one of the key players in Thailand and Southeast Asia’s startup industry. Amongst Omise’s biggest achievements is the Series A funding of $2.6 million back in May 2015 from SMDV, East Ventures, True mobile and 500 Tuktuks. More recently in July 2016, Omise also received Series B funding for $17.5 million from SBI Investments, Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, Ascent Money, Golden Gate Ventures, which so far is still the biggest record of investment this year for a Southeast Asian Fintech company. The funding has resulted in the company’s rapid growth in the few years since its launch, which has now drawn in over 2,000 merchants to use its service ranging from SMEs to big cooperations include True, Nok Air and Minor International.

The funding has resulted in the company’s rapid growth in the few years since its launch, which has now drawn in over 2,000 merchants to use its service ranging from SMEs to big cooperations include True, Nok Air and Minor International.

Today, Omise operates in Thailand, Japan and Indonesia with aims to expand further around the Southeast Asian region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong. With the online network in this region booming faster than ever before thanks to the success of the fintech and e-commerce businesses, it’s safe to say that the world will be turning here for solutions to its online payment problems, and Omise is bound to be the key players in providing the solution it is looking for.