Financial comparison super app has closed a seed extension of $1.5 million, taking the total investment in this round to $2.5 million. J12 Ventures led the round. Other participants included iSeed Ventures, Toy Ventures, returning investors EstBAN, Startup Wise Guys, and other angels.
Launched in 2019 by Tom Niparts, call Jeff an intermediary that links financial service seekers to financial services providers. The startup wants to give consumers a “super app” to compare many financial products and apply for them using the startup’s proprietary data-scoring models. For service providers, Jeff serves as a distribution channel, helping them find and retain customers.
Jeff’s goal is to become the main distribution channel for financial services in Southeast Asia and the top place for consumers to compare products and apply for them. Founder and chief executive officer Tom Niparts
While one of Jeff’s main features is loan comparison, the company has started expanding its offerings because most people only borrow money once in a while.
To create incentives to return to Jeff, instead of offloading the app once they secure a loan, Jeff is also offering coupons, like Shopee discounts, and planning to launch telecom top-ups with cash-back offers and a user referral functionality. It is also working on neobank and mobile wallet comparisons, payment functionalities, installment financing, services for micro-to small-sized merchants, and a data science model to increase conversions for providers.
Jeff had a net profitable second quarter and wasn’t planning on raising again. Still, investors were interested because of its strong growth since the beginning of the year, Niparts said in an interview with TechCrunch.
Since the end of January, the startup claims that its users have tripled to 700,000, who compared a total of four million products over the past six months. Jeff is operational in Vietnam and has applied for a license to launch in Indonesia. It also plans to enter the Philippines in the third quarter.
The startup will use Part of the funding to increase its team from about 15 people to more than 40 employees for its offices in Latvia and Southeast Asia.
