This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 16, 2019

PUTRAJAYA: HeiTech Padu Bhd’s 80%-owned unit, Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd, is seeking funding from investors to develop more advanced technology for its MyPay e-government service payment platform.

The amount sought is less than RM20 million, MyPay chief executive officer Nick Liew said, without being more specific.

“We would also use the funds for marketing as we need to push the product out to every single Malaysian out there. Everyone does not read the same media or go to the same places; [the] marketing has to reach all over,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference at the official launch of MyPay yesterday, Liew said at present, MyPay’s funding is provided by HeiTech Padu.

When questioned about previous reports that Dapat Vista was in talks with other investors, thus possibly changing the entity’s shareholding structure, Liew said this would be up to its current shareholders to decide.

Dapat Vista is 80%-owned by HeiTech Padu, with the remaining 20% stake held by three individuals.

While not disclosing its current number of users, MyPay chief technology officer Joshua Smith said the platform aims to sign up about 300,000 users in the short term and up to a million users in the medium term.

Liew added that in the short term, the platform is aiming to bring 10 to 20 government agencies onside and in the longer term 30 to 40 agencies that “most people deal with”.

“One of the key services that we would like to have is loans. Currently, we are working with National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN), but there are more agencies other than PTPTN that give out loans in Malaysia,” said Liew.

He said other government agencies that disburse loans, including state governments, are also areas of keen interest for the platform.

Besides PTPTN, other agencies that have already signed up include the Election Commission and RAM Credit Information Sdn Bhd.

Smith said the app charges different rates with different government agencies and transactions as per the agreements that have been drawn up between MyPay and the government agencies.

Dapat Vista was set up on March 20, 2000, and has been involved in government SMS services for the past decade.

Shares in its parent company HeiTech Padu have been on an uptrend since the beginning of 2019. They closed at RM1.30 yesterday, valuing the company at RM131.59 million.

The counter hit a one-year high of RM1.33 on Tuesday, while its one-year low of 34 sen was reached on Dec 19, 2018.

The company has not seen a net profit since the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16). It posted a net loss of RM14 million for FY17 and a net loss of RM29.18 million for FY18.

For the first quarter of FY19, the group posted a wider net loss of RM902,000, from a net loss of RM431,000 registered for the corresponding quarter a year ago. Meanwhile, quarterly revenue declined 16.48% to RM70.07 million from RM83.91 million.