CompareAsiaGroup, co-led by Irish entreprenur, raises $40m

Financial comparison site CompareAsiaGroup, co-led by Irish entrepreneur Alister Musgrave, has raised $40 million in venture capital funding.

The Hong-Kong division of the company is headed by Mr Musgrave. Musgrave, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, set up MoneyHero Hong Kong last year. Along with other brands including MoneyMax in the Philippines, and HaloMoney in Indonesia, the financial comparison site sits under the CompareAsiaGroup umbrella.

He said the funding will be used to expand the company’s offerings to more categories, including investment products and life insurance.

"The money will be used to increase the product offering for consumers and develop more platforms. It will also help drive more marketing and educate consumers about comparison tools."

The Series A funding round was led by Goldman Sachs Jardine Pacific, Nova Founders Capital, ACE & Company, and Route 66 Ventures.

Zynga founder Marcus Pincus and former chief operating officer of Facebook, Owen van Natta, also participated in the round.

CompareAsiaGroup helps people across Asia save money and make better choices about personal finance with online comparison tools for insurance, credit cards, personal loans and other financial products. The sites aggregate financial products such as credit cards, health insurance, car insurance and loans.

"Financial comparison is a proven business model. Its Internet 101 but hasn't existed in Asia. Similar sites for hotels such as booking.com are doing extremely well in Asia," Mr Musgrave said.