Online insurance company Singapore Life is entering into card business by acquiring pre-paid card business Canvas from payments firm YoloPay for an undisclosed amount.
Image: Singapore Life acquires Canvas business from YoloPay. Photo: Courtesy of StockSnap/Pixabay.
As part of the acquisition, YoloPay marketing director Liam McCance will join Singapore Life as chief marketing officer and head its newly formed fintech venture division.
Singapore Life aims to establish itself as a competitive player in pre-paid card space. Canvas is a mobile app which allows parents track the expenses of their children, issue pocket money and set spending limits, by using administrative tools.
With the app, parents can adjust expenditure limits by the hour and it can even be completely disabled use via mobile phone.
The app is expected to hit the Android and iOS stores in the middle of this year.
In a study conducted by YoloPay, it found that while parents think that their teens spend most of their money on food, stationery and transport, teens actually spend more on clothing, apparel and ecommerce and online gaming. The app Canvas could help parents in taking control of their kids’ spending habits.
Singapore Life’s founder and CEO Walter de Oude said: “We are extremely excited to bring Canvas to market and Liam onboard to spearhead Singapore Life’s latest tactical initiatives. Prepaid Visa card brand Canvas is designed specifically for parents to manage their teens’ expenses [and] is the way forward in an increasingly cashless society. Canvas is without a doubt, a practical financial solution for families; and an excellent teaching tool for young adults to learn how to prioritise their allotted pocket money prudently.
“Along with our increasing number of wealth-centric product verticals, Canvas is a great addition to the Singapore Life family and adds payment functionality to our core offerings. We are constantly looking to adapt and evolve our technology to provide value-added services to our customers.”
This transaction follows Singapore Life’s latest funding round, in which the company raised $13m along with $20m being raised from US insurer Aflac last December.
Canvas was founded by Ravi Patel, a fintech entrepreneur in 2014, who also started Singapore’s first digital bank YoloPay.