Southeast Asia’s superapp big has agreed to amass US-based investing platform Stash at an enterprise worth of US$425 million at closing, a deal that can hand Seize a 50.1 per cent stake upfront.
The remaining shares shall be acquired over the following three years at truthful market worth.
The transaction is topic to regulatory approvals and is anticipated to shut within the third quarter of 2026. Fee at closing shall be made in money and inventory, with subsequent funds made in money and/or inventory at Seize’s discretion.
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On paper, it’s an uncommon geographic leap for a corporation that has repeatedly pressured its operational deal with Southeast Asia. In technique phrases, it’s a really Seize-like transfer: broaden functionality first, then determine how and the place to deploy it.
Why the US and why Stash?
Seize’s entry into the US by way of Stash is much less about planting a flag in New York and extra about shopping for a confirmed Working System for mass-market wealth merchandise — one which has already been stress-tested beneath among the world’s strictest monetary laws.
Stash sits squarely in a phase Seize has lengthy wished to deepen in Southeast Asia: client fintech that goes past funds and credit score into wealth-building. The platform serves over a million subscribers and manages greater than US$5 billion in property.
Importantly for Seize’s post-profitability period, Stash runs on a subscription mannequin, recurring income that’s usually much less unstable than transaction-driven revenue.
Seize additionally stated Stash is adjusted EBITDA and money flow-positive and has been worthwhile on that foundation since its Collection H fundraising spherical in 2025. Primarily based on present efficiency, Seize expects Stash to generate greater than US$60 million in adjusted EBITDA within the 2028 calendar 12 months. These numbers matter as a result of they sign one thing Seize’s traders have been demanding for years: development that doesn’t set money on fireplace.
Anthony Tan, Group CEO and co-founder of Seize, framed the acquisition as each a income and functionality play: “This acquisition brings extra than simply recurring, high-margin subscription income; we’ll strengthen Seize’s fintech know-how with Stash’s AI-powered investing app, designed with present US regulatory necessities at its core.
Whereas we stay operationally centered on Southeast Asia and scaling our regional loanbook, this transfer reinforces our mission of democratising monetary providers for everybody.”
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In plain English, the US is the place you be taught to construct fintech with the security rails bolted on, and then you definately convey the playbook dwelling.
The lengthy sport: functionality switch, not simply nation enlargement
In the long term, this deal helps Seize in 4 compounding methods.
It diversifies Seize’s fintech earnings. Seize’s monetary providers push has leaned closely on lending and funds. Stash provides a unique income profile: subscription-led, high-margin, and fewer delicate to day-to-day client spend patterns.
It upgrades Seize’s product stack. As a substitute of constructing a mass-market investing platform from scratch (and studying the exhausting means about person schooling, compliance workflows, and suitability), Seize is buying a longtime machine with an present buyer base and behavior information.
It creates an choice for Southeast Asia’s wealth merchandise. Seize stated it’ll help Stash’s US development whereas exploring whether or not to introduce its investing capabilities in Southeast Asia over time. That “over time” is doing work: it implies sequencing and regulatory pragmatism, not a rushed cross-border rollout.
It brings in AI-led private finance engagement, which might grow to be a moat in a area the place buyer acquisition is pricey and retention is fickle.
What the acquisition reveals about Seize’s world enlargement technique
The construction of the deal is a inform. Seize takes majority management at times buys the remaining over three years. That’s a risk-managed method to world enlargement: safe strategic management, hold founders incentivised, and stage capital deployment whereas efficiency and regulatory approvals play out.
It additionally suggests the superapp’s worldwide development technique is shifting from “new geography, similar playbook” to “new functionality, a number of geographies”. Relatively than exporting the superapp mannequin into the US — a market crowded with entrenched client platforms — Seize is importing a fintech functionality that may strengthen its core Southeast Asian ecosystem.
In different phrases, Seize goes world selectively: shopping for property that may deepen the corporate’s aggressive edge at dwelling, whereas nonetheless capturing upside overseas.
How Stash’s AI might reshape monetary providers in Southeast Asia
The headline functionality right here is Stash’s AI Cash Coach, designed to offer personalised monetary steering. Stash stated interactions are auditable and ruled by outlined insurance policies and controls, a crucial level for any AI software touching client finance.
Since launching in late 2024, Stash says about one in two customers have taken a monetary motion on the identical day, with that determine up practically 40 per cent in 2025. That type of conversion isn’t just a pleasant product metric; it’s a blueprint for altering monetary behaviour at scale.
If Seize in the end adapts comparable AI-driven teaching for Southeast Asia, the influence may very well be important:
Decrease-cost, always-on steering for first-time traders who don’t have entry to conventional advisors.
Higher monetary literacy embedded within the product, quite than as separate, simply ignored content material.
Personalised nudges tied to actual behaviour, which may drive saving, investing, and accountable borrowing.
Regulator-friendly controls by way of auditable interactions — essential in markets the place AI governance in finance is tightening.
For Seize, which already sits on wealthy indicators from mobility, deliveries, funds, and lending, layering AI monetary teaching might flip its ecosystem information into one thing customers truly really feel daily: clearer selections, fewer missteps, and extra confidence. That’s how fintech turns into sticky.
How the deal strengthens Seize’s monetary efficiency
Past the narrative of “coming into the US”, this acquisition is basically a monetary structure improve.
Recurring, high-margin subscription income can stabilise Seize’s fintech earnings and enhance predictability.
EBITDA-positive operations cut back the combination burden: Seize is just not shopping for a turnaround story; it’s shopping for a operating engine.
Cross-ecosystem monetisation potential: if Seize finally brings investing to Southeast Asia, it might probably improve ARPU and retention throughout its person base, whereas creating extra causes to maintain cash inside the Seize ecosystem.
A stronger fintech combine: pairing lending (which will be cyclical and risk-sensitive) with wealth and subscription providers can easy efficiency over time.
The timing can also be notable. Seize reported its first full 12 months of web revenue in 2025, after years of losses, alongside continued development in income and person engagement. Profitability adjustments the playbook: it offers Seize extra credibility to pursue acquisitions which might be strategic, not determined.
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After closing, Stash will proceed working as an impartial model in america beneath its present management, together with co-founders and co-CEOs Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson, who stated: “Seize has a monitor report of ecosystem-building by means of harnessing person information and a tradition of entrepreneurship that can serve our development ambitions.
This acquisition offers us the most effective of each worlds: the capabilities to double down on development within the US, and the assets of a expertise powerhouse to speed up our imaginative and prescient of personalised, AI-driven monetary steering for thousands and thousands of individuals throughout all elements of their monetary lives.”
In Southeast Asia, the subtext is evident: Seize is just not abandoning its dwelling turf nevertheless it’s importing sharper instruments to win it.
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