Singapore-based robo-advisor, Bambu, secures $3m ‘Series A’ funding to accelerate expansion

Bambu, a Singapore-based B2B robo-advisory solutions provider, has raised a $3-million Series A financing led by existing investor Franklin Templeton Investments, the company announced Wednesday, July 11.

Singapore’s family office Octava, which focuses on real estate, financial technology and lifestyle investments, and Japanese fintech investor Mamoru Taniya also joined the round.

The year 2018 has already become a marquee year for the two-year-old startup, signing clients in both North and South America as well as across Asia, and newly opened offices in London and Kuala Lumpur.

Bambu also continues its commitment to its proprietary A.I. research and solutions, with further hires and completion of the team’s first research publication.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support of all our existing and new investors and customers in helping us to build a leading global robo-advisory technology company. Early this year we already surpassed the growth targets we had set for 2018, with seven new clients preparing to go live between the Asian and U.S. markets.

“This proves our B2B business model is working, as there is real global scalability without large capital requirements. Our next ambitious goal is to get a million end users on the platform by 2019,” Ned Phillips, Bambu CEO and founder said in a statement.

“Since our initial investment in 2017, the Bambu team has shown its ability to drive constant in-novation in the digital wealth management space. This makes Bambu a great long-term partner for us, and we are excited to continue our support of the team and their global expansion efforts,” Harshendu Bindal, managing director, head of retail at Franklin Templeton Investments, commented.

Bambu has recently grown to a team of 33 members, mostly based in their Singapore headquarters, and with offices in Malaysia, Hong Kong and London.

Robo-advisors or Robo-advisers are a class of financial adviser that provide financial advice or investment management online with moderate to minimal human intervention. They provide digital financial advice based on mathematical rules or algorithms.