StoreHub has secured a strategic investment from ShardLab, the fintech venture studio backed by global investment firm Hashed, alongside a new joint venture to develop payments and rewards products for Southeast Asian merchants. The deal was announced August 25, 2026, with the investment size undisclosed, as StoreHub’s merchant network now processes roughly US$3.5 billion in annual transaction value.
Key Facts At A Glance
- StoreHub is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Investment size was not disclosed by either company
- StoreHub serves more than 20,000 merchant locations across Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan
- The platform processes over 200 million transactions annually
- Annual transaction value is approximately US$3.5 billion
- ShardLab was formed through a partnership between Hashed and SCBX, one of Thailand’s largest financial groups
- The two companies will form a joint venture to develop new consumer payment and rewards products
- Specific products and a launch timeline have not been announced
The Deal
ShardLab has taken a strategic stake in StoreHub, a commerce and payments platform that provides point-of-sale, payments, loyalty and online ordering tools to small and mid-sized retail and food-and-beverage businesses. Neither company disclosed the size of the investment. Alongside the equity stake, the two firms are establishing a joint venture aimed at testing new consumer payment and rewards experiences across StoreHub’s existing merchant base, with the intention of scaling only the concepts that prove effective with real merchants and consumers.
Strategic Rationale
ShardLab’s backing gives it access to a large, established base of merchants and consumers through StoreHub’s infrastructure, built over more than a decade of operation across four markets. StoreHub CEO Wai Hong Fong framed the partnership around a single test for any new product: whether it helps merchants increase sales. The company is also continuing a separate push to rebuild its platform around artificial intelligence, with the stated goal of letting small teams operate with the output capacity of much larger ones.
Regional Context
ShardLab was established through a strategic partnership between Hashed and SCBX, positioning it to build and commercialize financial technology products with backing from an established Thai financial group. The StoreHub deal marks its first move to connect that work to a large, real-world commerce network rather than a smaller pilot. Southeast Asia’s underserved-but-mobile-first consumer base is cited by the companies as a key rationale for the region-wide rollout plan, though concrete product details remain undisclosed.