SYDNEY, 22 OCTOBER 2026 — KPay Group, one of the fastest-growing fintech companies serving more than 100,000 merchants across Asia-Pacific, today marks one year of operations in Australia, announcing that its Australian subsidiary, KPay Merchant Service (Australia) Pty Ltd (“KPay Australia”), was granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The milestone positions KPay as a fully regulated participant in Australia's financial services sector, and comes as the company unveils an expanded suite of merchant tools, including its next-generation point-of-sale (POS) systems and KFund, its SME financing solution, designed to support Australian businesses at every stage of growth.
Since entering the Australian market in October 2025, KPay has onboarded more than 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises across food and beverage, retail, hospitality, and professional services, reaching this milestone and tracking consistently ahead of Australian SME fintech category averages.
Year One: Building Foundations
KPay's first year in Australia has been defined by a deliberate focus on solving real merchant pain points. Before KPay, a typical café operator or independent retailer managed three to four separate vendor relationships, covering POS, EFTPOS, bank reconciliation, and customer support with average ten-minute wait times. KPay consolidates all four into one platform.
The results are measurable. Merchants settle funds approximately 15% faster than with legacy systems, gain significant weekly reconciliation time savings through automated real-time processing, and reach live support in under five minutes, half the market average. Merchants who have been active on the platform for more than three months record an average 73% increase in processed payment volume between their first and thirteenth weeks of trading. This is not an onboarding spike. It reflects a sustained migration of transaction volume away from legacy incumbents and toward KPay as merchants' primary payment provider.
AFSL Grant: A Regulatory Milestone
Just twelve months after launching in Australia, KPay Australia has secured an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The licence authorises KPay Merchant Service (Australia) Pty Ltd to issue non-cash payment products, and to provide general advice on those products, to both retail and wholesale clients, cementing its position as a serious long-term player in the local payments market.
The AFSL process involves a rigorous assessment of a company's leadership, financial strength, risk management and compliance systems, and is a key marker of maturity for any fintech operating in Australia.
An Expanded Business Suite for Australian Merchants
Alongside the AFSL announcement, KPay is launching its latest generation of POS hardware and software solutions currently tailored for the food and beverage sectors in the Australian market.
KPay's new POS systems offer seamless integration across in-store and online channels, supporting a wide range of payment methods and currencies. Designed with the operational needs of local businesses in mind, the solutions enable merchants to manage sales, inventory, and customer data from a single platform, with real-time cross-channel reconciliation built into the core architecture.
The new product positions KPay as more than a payments processor. KPay is a regulated, end-to-end business solutions partner for Australian merchants entering their next phase of growth.
A Mark of KPay's Investment in People
KPay's growth as an employer has been recognised across the region. The company was named No. 1 on LinkedIn Top Startups 2026 in Singapore, ranking first amongst only ten companies selected across the city and marking its first appearance on the list. The ranking is compiled entirely from LinkedIn platform data across four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest, and the ability to attract talent from leading global companies, covering the period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
The recognition speaks to the quality of KPay's people strategy across Asia-Pacific, and reflects a broader organisational commitment to building teams that are equipped to serve local markets well. In Australia, that commitment is visible in KPay's continued investment in local hiring, on-the-ground account management, and the operational depth that underpins its merchant support experience.
Award-Winning Design in the Hands of Australian Merchants
KPay's pay-in ecosystem has been awarded the Good Design Award 2026 (グッドデザイン賞 2026年度受賞), presented by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion. One of the Big Four designs honours on the global stage and marked by the iconic G Mark, the award recognises products that make a genuine difference to how people and businesses work every day.
For KPay, the recognition is a reminder of what the company strives to deliver for the merchants of Australia: not just a payment solution, but a platform built to the highest global standard, one where thoughtful design and genuine usability are treated as essentials, not extras.
Looking Ahead: Year Two and Beyond
As KPay enters its second year in Australia, the company is accelerating its local expansion strategy. Plans include deepening its merchant base in Sydney and Melbourne, extending its reach to additional cities and broadening its product portfolio to address the evolving needs of Australian businesses. Merchants have consistently signalled demand for expanded capabilities, both horizontal integrations such as financing and business accounts, and deeper vertical features such as online payments and Scan-to-Order, validating that the platform has earned the trust to become the foundation merchants want to build on.
KPay's Australian operations will continue to be supported by ongoing investment in local talent, partnerships, and compliance infrastructure, underpinning the company's commitment to being a long-term participant in, and contributor to, Australia's financial services ecosystem.
Davis Chan, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, KPay Group:
"Australia has been a strategically important market for KPay from the outset, and our first year here has exceeded our expectations. We entered with a clear purpose: to give Australian merchants access to the same high-quality, integrated business solutions that have helped our customers thrive across Asia-Pacific.
The grant of our AFSL is an important regulatory milestone that supports the next stage of our Australian business. As we step into Year Two, we are better equipped than ever to support Australian businesses with the tools, financing, and regulated infrastructure they need to grow."
About KPay:
KPay Group (“KPay”) is one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Asia-Pacific, committed to empowering businesses of all sizes through simple, seamless, smart and secure technology solutions. Serving more than 100,000 merchants across Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore, KPay helps unlock growth potential by building a one-stop platform for financial management, business operations, and digital transformation.
In 2024, KPay raised a record-breaking USD 55 million in its Series A funding round, the largest in the global payments sector that year.
Globally, KPay has been recognised as one of CNBC and Statista's "World's Top Fintech Companies 2026" and has received the "Good Design Award 2026", presented by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
Across Asia-Pacific, in 2025, KPay was selected for the "Forbes Asia 100 to Watch" list and named "PayTech of the Year" at the Asia FinTech Awards. In Singapore, KPay has been ranked No. 1 on "LinkedIn Top Startups 2026 - Singapore", and listed among "Singapore's Top FinTech Companies 2026" by Tech in Asia and Statista.
