Connect with us

Technology

Qashier Turns Profitable on US$1 Billion in Annual Payment Volume, Raises US$6.125 Million to Accelerate Regional Expansion

Published

on

The Singapore-headquartered merchant operating system grew annualised recurring revenue 61% in 2025 and turned profitable across four Southeast Asian markets on a lean capital base.

SINGAPORE, June 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Qashier, a unified merchant operating system for Southeast Asia, today announced a US$6.125 million Series A+ financing round comprising equity and debt. The round was led by Cocoon Capital, IFP Securities and BlackSoil Global, with participation from strategic angel investors. The capital will support regional expansion and product development.

The raise follows a year of disciplined operating progress. Qashier now processes US$1 billion in annualised payment volume for more than 20,000 merchants across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, and has been profitable every month since December 2025. Over the year it grew annualised recurring revenue 61% and secured its Major Payment Institution licence in Singapore in February 2025. The company has reached these milestones having raised under US$20 million to date, a level of capital efficiency rare among payments businesses at its scale.

Southeast Asia is home to more than 70 million SMEs and a digital payments market exceeding US$1 trillion, yet most merchants still run their businesses on disconnected systems — separate providers for point-of-sale, payment acceptance, inventory, customer engagement and financing. That fragmentation adds cost, creates blind spots, and holds back businesses trying to grow across outlets and borders.

Qashier brings these functions onto a single platform, combining payments, business software, CRM and embedded financial services across more than 50 integrated modules — spanning ordering, inventory management, loyalty and automated marketing — and over 20 regional payment methods, including cards, QR, e-wallets and buy-now-pay-later. Crucially, Qashier owns its end-to-end payments stack — KYC, processing, payouts and cross-border settlement — giving merchants a faster, fully integrated experience and more competitive pricing, while generating the proprietary transaction data that powers the rest of the platform.

That data advantage is most visible in QashierLoans, the company’s revenue-based lending product launched in June 2025. Underwritten entirely on proprietary platform data and repaid automatically from each merchant’s daily sales, QashierLoans has disbursed more than US$10 million to over 100 SMEs since launch — extending Qashier’s role from commerce software provider to financial operating partner, and turning every transaction on the platform into a sharper credit signal.

“We are building the operating system for Southeast Asia’s SME economy — and we are building it profitably,” said Christopher Choo, Co-Founder and CEO of Qashier. “Merchants should not have to stitch together five vendors to run one business. By bringing payments, software, financial services and customer engagement into a single ecosystem, we give them clarity, lower costs and the confidence to scale across markets. This round lets us leverage that advantage into the next phase of growth.”

Cocoon Capital has backed Qashier since its early days. “We have been proud to support Qashier since its beginning, and this latest round is a testament to what the team has built,” said Michael Blakey of Cocoon Capital. “What continues to impress us is their ability to navigate every obstacle placed in their path with resilience and ingenuity. Qashier’s cofounders, Christopher Choo and Franklin Zhao, have an exceptionally clear and compelling vision for what Qashier is becoming, ‘the default operating infrastructure for commerce across Southeast Asia,’ and we remain firmly committed to supporting that journey.”

With the new funding, Qashier will focus on enhanced omnichannel payments, broader embedded financial services, and AI-enabled insights and workflow automation. It will also expand its offering for larger, multi-outlet businesses, particularly in food and beverage and beauty and wellness, where merchants require sophisticated workflows, consolidated reporting and a consistent customer experience across locations and markets. Qashier is preparing for a Series B round to fund its next phase of growth, with milestones expected in recurring revenue, payment licensing and loan disbursements.

About Qashier

Qashier is a unified merchant operating system that brings together payments, business software, embedded financial services and customer engagement tools on one platform. Operating across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, Qashier supports more than 20,000 SMEs with an integrated ecosystem built for Southeast Asia’s digital economy.

About Cocoon Capital

Cocoon Capital® is a Singapore-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in enterprise software and deep tech across Southeast Asia. Founded in 2016, Cocoon has more than USD 90 million assets under management and has made over 30 investments to date. The firm backs companies building transformative solutions in sectors including medtech, advanced manufacturing, logistics, diagnostics, and climate tech. With its slogan “Dare to Change™”, Cocoon stands apart by leading early, taking concentrated positions, and working hands-on with founders from Seed through Series A. Portfolio companies include Aprisium, TransTRACK, Shomvob, Augmentus, Bioactivx, BuyMed, See-Mode Technologies, and Volt14. Learn more at www.cocooncap.com.

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/qashier-turns-profitable-on-us1-billion-in-annual-payment-volume-raises-us6-125-million-to-accelerate-regional-expansion-302814059.html

SOURCE Cocoon Capital; Qashier Pte. Ltd.

Continue Reading

Technology

BCE reports results of Series S and T preferred share conversions

Published

on

By

MONTRÉAL, Oct. 19, 2026 /CNW/ — BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE) today announced that 400 of its 4,798,333 fixed-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series T (“Series T Preferred Shares”) have been tendered for conversion on November 2, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into floating-rate Cumulative Redeemable First Preferred Shares, Series S (“Series S Preferred Shares”). In addition, 676,765 of its 1,866,877 Series S Preferred Shares have been tendered for conversion on November 2, 2026, on a one-for-one basis, into Series T Preferred Shares. Consequently, on November 2, 2026, BCE will have 5,474,698 Series T Preferred Shares and 1,190,512 Series S Preferred Shares issued and outstanding. The Series T Preferred Shares and the Series S Preferred Shares will continue to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols BCE.PR.T and BCE.PR.S, respectively.

The Series T Preferred Shares will pay on a quarterly basis, for the five-year period beginning on November 2, 2026, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE, a fixed cash dividend based on an annual fixed dividend rate of 5.523%.

The Series S Preferred Shares will continue to pay a monthly floating adjustable cash dividend for the five-year period beginning on November 2, 2026, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of BCE. The monthly floating adjustable dividend for any particular month will continue to be calculated based on the prime rate for such month and using the Designated Percentage for such month representing the sum of an adjustment factor (based on the market price of the Series S Preferred Shares in the preceding month) and the Designated Percentage for the preceding month.

About BCE
BCE is Canada’s largest communications company1, leading the way in advanced fibre and wireless networks, enterprise services and digital media. By delivering next-generation technology that leverages cloud-based and AI-driven solutions, we’re keeping customers connected, informed and entertained while enabling businesses to compete on the world stage. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

1 Based on total revenue and total combined customer connections.

Media inquiries:
Ellen Murphy
media@bell.ca

Investor inquiries:
Krishna Somers
krishna.somers@bell.ca

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bce-reports-results-of-series-s-and-t-preferred-share-conversions-302913268.html

SOURCE BCE Inc.

Continue Reading

Technology

3M announces collaboration with GSEO to advance Expanded Beam Optical manufacturing and development

Published

on

By

ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — 3M (NYSE: MMM) today announced a collaboration with Genius Electronic Optical Co., Ltd. (GSEO, Taiwan: 3406), an optical technology company, to advance technology development and manufacturing for 3M’s Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) solutions. In support of these efforts, 3M expects to make a strategic investment to acquire approximately 4.7% of GSEO’s common shares as part of the company’s private placement of newly issued shares, subject to customary closing conditions.

The collaboration brings together 3M’s EBO technology leadership, optical interconnect expertise, materials science, manufacturing scale and customer relationships with GSEO’s precision optics manufacturing capabilities and production scale. Together, the companies aim to support EBO commercialization and long-term capacity expansion to meet growing demand from hyperscale data centers and other advanced connectivity applications.

“3M is investing in capabilities and partnerships that can accelerate innovation for our customers,” said William Brown, 3M Chairman and CEO. “By selecting GSEO as a manufacturing partner and investing in the company, we are strengthening the path to scale next-generation optical connectivity solutions for high-performance data center infrastructure.”

GSEO’s existing precision optics manufacturing capabilities and technical development experience are expected to support manufacturing readiness for 3M’s EBO ferrules, co-packaged optics solutions and related optical interconnect applications. The collaboration is part of 3M’s broader EBO ecosystem strategy, which includes continued work with customers and partners across the optical interconnect market.

“GSEO is pleased to expand its relationship with 3M as we work together to advance optical interconnect solutions for next-generation data center infrastructure,” said Micro Kuo, GSEO CEO and President. “This collaboration brings together complementary technology and manufacturing strengths to support continued innovation and help meet the performance demands of high-growth connectivity markets.”

3M expects the strategic investment to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release are considered “forward-looking statements” under the federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and are intended to enjoy the protection of those laws. Forward-looking statements may appear throughout this release and are typically identified by the words “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “evaluate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “goal,” “guidance,” “impact,” “initial,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “outlook,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “probable,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “strategy,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and other words that are similar to, or have the opposite meanings of, those words. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, 3M assumes no duty to update those statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of those statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events and trends that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those described in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of 3M’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

About 3M
3M (NYSE: MMM) is focused on transforming industries around the world by applying science and creating innovative, customer-focused solutions. Our multi-disciplinary team is working to solve tough customer problems by leveraging diverse technology platforms, differentiated capabilities, global footprint, and operational excellence. Discover how 3M is shaping the future at 3M.com/news.

Contacts
3M
Investor Contact:
Diane Farrow, 612-202-2449
Media Contact:
3MNews@mmm.com 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3m-announces-collaboration-with-gseo-to-advance-expanded-beam-optical-manufacturing-and-development-302913170.html

SOURCE 3M Company

Continue Reading

Technology

Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers Announces Second Annual Operation Fur-Ever Home Pet Adoption Event at Lafreniere Park

Published

on

By

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is excited to announce the return of its second annual Operation Fur-Ever Home, a free community pet adoption event taking place on Saturday, November 14, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Lafreniere Park in Metairie, Louisiana.

The free, family-friendly event will give attendees the opportunity to meet adoptable pets from local animal shelters, learn about responsible pet ownership, and potentially welcome a new furry companion into their homes. Those who preregister for the event will also be entered for a chance to win a Soundcore speaker and a free pet adoption.

“Last year’s event was everything we hoped it would be, and we are incredibly excited to bring Operation Fur-Ever Home back for a second year,” said David Vicknair, founding partner of Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers. “There is something special about watching a family meet a pet that could become part of their lives for years to come. We wanted to create another opportunity to make those connections while supporting the organizations that work tirelessly to care for animals in our community.”

Building on the success of the first event, this year’s event continues the firm’s commitment to supporting local animal shelters and creating meaningful opportunities for families throughout Southeast Louisiana.

“Giving back to our community has always been an important part of who we are as a firm,” said Vicknair. “Whether we are helping students prepare for school, recognizing deserving teachers, or supporting local animal shelters, our goal is to make a positive difference in the communities we serve.”

Operation Fur-Ever Home is free and open to the public. Families, animal lovers, and anyone interested in adopting a pet are encouraged to attend and preregister.

About Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers

Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers is a New Orleans-based personal injury firm committed to providing exceptional legal representation while also investing in the communities it serves. Their experienced team of dedicated attorneys specializes in car accidents, personal injury, and wrongful death cases in New Orleans. With diverse personal and professional backgrounds, they craft legal strategies tailored to each client’s specific case and needs.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scott-vicknair-personal-injury-lawyers-announces-second-annual-operation-fur-ever-home-pet-adoption-event-at-lafreniere-park-302913183.html

SOURCE Scott Vicknair Personal Injury Lawyers

Continue Reading

Trending