CP acquires crypto-funded fintech firm

Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group has acquired the Asian fintech company Omise, which has funded some of its growth with a successful cryptocurrency token issue.

The acquisition by the agribusiness and communications conglomerate was worth an estimated US$150 million, according to The Block, a cryptocurrency news website.

Founded in 2013, Omise is one of Thailand’s leading payment gateways and also operates in Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia. It raised $20 million in traditional venture capital prior to becoming one of the more established tech companies to take the initial coin offering (ICO) route in 2017. It capped its token sale at $25 million in an effort to build a peer-to-peer payment platform.

Today, the OmiseGO network token (OMG) is a top-20 coin with a market capitalisation above $257 million and counts Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin among its advisers.

The Block said that Chatchaval Jiaravanon, a member of the Chearavanont family that controls CP, is driving an effort to take over companies that could use cryptocurrency for payments.

The normally low-profile Mr Chatchaval made headlines last year when he bought Fortune magazine for $150 million as a personal investment.