Qnect rebrands to Get and raises $2.5m

Singapore-based campus social marketplace Get has closed a US$2.5 million funding round led by Vertex Ventures, the VC arm of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek. Existing angel investor Click Ventures also joined in. Get will use the funds to further develop its product, build teams in the city-state, Hong Kong, and Australia, as well as expand to other markets. Launched in 2017, the app facilitates payments for stuff like merchandise, memberships, and events by university clubs and societies. More than 400 organizations with 220,000 members use Get across its three markets.

The app has undergone a rebranding exercise – it was previously known as Qnect. The name change brings the startup “closer to its mission of helping students get their hands on the things they want,” says 23-year-old co-founder and CEO Daniel Liang.

“Often, the things they want are heavily inspired and dictated by the actions of their peers, which is why the social aspect underpinning this platform is so important,” he adds.

Vertex Ventures’ managing partner Joo Hock Chua believes Get’s social element is the missing gap in the online marketplace space.

He says: “The younger [consumers] are inherently social, and Get is one of the few services that leverage this insight as the basis for a payments platform. This generation wants to buy what their friends are buying, and being able to provide that level of transparency on a scalable digital platform is incredibly powerful.”