Say hey to Beam! They're the Thai startup building one-click online payments in Southeast Asia! Now, they've just raised a $2.5M seed led by Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia's Surge.

• Social commerce is a hit in SEA, with it being worth over $13B. But the checkout process is just a pain.

Investor check. Partech Partners also joined in.

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🛍 The context

Many sellers only use social media and messaging apps and don't use online storefronts.

So, payments can only be made after sending over each others' payment details and switching over to banking apps or e-wallets. Ugh.

• So much more money could be made! Conversion rates are low, thanks to customers dropping off instead of paying because of the hassle and limited options.

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💡 What's to love?

One payment system to rule them all. Beam allows sellers to accept options like cards, e-wallets, installments and even BNPL like Atome and Pace.

• If sellers wanted to offer multiple options easily, their only alternative would be selling on an e-commerce marketplace or integrating payments on their websites.

Easier than ever. Just send over your store's Beam payment link over chat, and your customer can pay in just one click.

• You can also add Beam's payment system onto your website.

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🤑 Money matters

Sellers only need to pay a small flat percentage fee for each transaction based on the payment method — it's 2.95% for credit cards.

• This is still cheaper than alternatives. Sellers would have to pay subscription and platform fees if they were selling on e-commerce marketplaces.

Beam's usual customers? Medium-sized businesses that process a few hundred orders daily and sell fashion, beauty, home and living or electronics products.

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💰 What's with the $$$?

They'll be expanding across Thailand and later growing across SEA! So yes, prep your resumes because they're hiring.