Malaysia-based Fintech Investment platform, HelloGold, has been successful in securing Series A funding.

Established in 2015, HelloGold has also made a mark as one of Malaysia’s first Fintech companies, allowing users to purchase investment-grade gold for a fraction of a dollar. In March, the company were among the winners of Malaysia’s first Fintech awards, securing the nomination and award for Prominent in Wealth, Asset & Investment Management of the Year.

The company is migrating the platform to Ethereum smart contracts in the second half of 2018 to enable greater transparency and security of gold transactions, and in January of this year launched GOLDX, a Shariah-compliant, Ethereum ERC20 token which is backed by 99.9% investment-grade gold. This works using smart contracts to digitise gold and makes it exchangeable outside the HelloGold platform, allowing users to purchase gold on any cryptocurrency exchange that offers trading of the token.

HelloGold has since gained the attention of a major name in Venture Capital within Silicon Valley, securing Series A funding from venture capital firm, 500 Startups. The funding will be used for the integration and testing of blockchain elements on the HelloGold mobile app

Robin Lee, the CEO and Co-founder of HelloGold expressed excitement and confidence in the support and partnership:

“We’re honoured to have 500 Startups support HelloGold as we use blockchain to reduce barriers and accelerate access to more affordable financial products in Asia. By integrating blockchain into the HelloGold platform, customers will benefit from greater transparency, better security, and greater flexibility.”

Offering broad appeal for grass-roots investors, Lee is confident that HelloGold and its blockchain technology have the potential to grow as demand increases:

“In addition to providing customers with more options and freedom beyond cash, blockchain will enable HelloGold to scale faster and have a lower cost base, allowing us to reach a wider demographic of underserved and unbanked markets. With Asia making up 71 per cent of the gold market in 2016, gold is a powerful means of wealth preservation and financial inclusion.”

Kailee Ng, spokesperson for 500 startups, an early stage venture capital firm. Stated that the company gained a first, specific interest in involving itself in funding and developing the ideas and aspirations of Lee and his team at HelloGold.

“We recognised HelloGold’s potential early on and nominated them to the TenxClub, an initiative by the Malaysian Ministry of Finance to support Malaysian startups with demonstrated ability to multiply and scale internationally. Our investment in HelloGold aligns well with our global initiatives such as the new Blockchain Track launched in San Francisco in March.”

The prospects for HelloGold, 500 Startups, blockchain and Fintech companies in Asia are looking increasingly optimistic. Except for ICO’s, investment in Blockchain companies worldwide reached over $900 million in 2017.

And with the first quarter of 2018 nearly at a close, it’s estimated that this level of investment will be surpassed by a large margin by the close of the year.