India’s payments and banking platform for businesses Razorpay has acquired a majority stake in a leading Malaysian fintech firm Curlec for an undisclosed amount.

The move marks its first international expansion into South-east Asia and fourth acquisition overall, they said in a joint statement today.

Razorpay chief executive officer and co-founder Harshil Mathur said its expansion into the South-east Asia payments market is timed exactly to coincide with the company’s growing dominance in all things payments.

Today, South-east Asia is a digital payment powerhouse, having witnessed significant financial transformation over the last few years, driven by changing consumer and retail trends and more inclusive payment options.

E-commerce is already booming in Malaysia with an estimated market size of US$21 billion (RM88 billion) in 2021, according to an industry report and it is estimated to grow further to over US$35 billion by 2025 fuelled by the emergence of new mobile payment methods.

Malaysian shoppers are also more open to cross-border shopping, with 40 per cent of online transactions happening cross-border.

Hence, he believes a broader range of payment services are required with the entry of new e-commerce consumers.

Curlec chief executive officer and co-founder Zac Liew looks forward to the next phase of the firm’s journey and scaling together across Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Curlec was founded by Liew and Steve Kucia in 2018, focusing on solutions for recurring payments for modern businesses of all sizes.

It currently works with hundreds of businesses across Malaysia with notable names including insurance company AXA and Axiata Digital.