ShardLab, a fintech venture studio backed by global investment firm Hashed, has made a strategic investment in StoreHub, one of Southeast Asia’s leading commerce and payments platforms. The two companies will also form a joint venture to explore new consumer payment and rewards experiences for merchants and consumers across the region.

StoreHub operates across Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan, serving more than 20,000 merchant locations. Its platform processes more than 200 million transactions annually, representing approximately US$3.5 billion in annual transaction value.

ShardLab was established through a strategic partnership between Hashed and SCBX, one of Thailand’s largest financial groups, to build and commercialize products at the intersection of frontier technologies and financial services. The partnership with StoreHub connects that work to a scaled, real-world commerce network for the first time.

Southeast Asia presents a strong environment for the partnership. The region combines a large population underserved by traditional financial services with a young demographic and widespread mobile usage, which has helped digital commerce, payments and loyalty tools become core infrastructure for many merchants.

The joint venture gives the two companies a structure to test new models with real merchants and consumers, and to scale only what demonstrably works. In practice, that means any new payment or rewards product will have to fit into day-to-day merchant operations rather than existing as a standalone pilot. Specific products and initiatives will be announced as and when they launch.

Wai Hong Fong, CEO of StoreHub, said: “StoreHub has spent over a decade building the commerce and payments infrastructure that merchants across Asia use to run their businesses every day. ShardLab and Hashed have spent years at the forefront of payments and rewards technology, and this partnership is about bringing that work to real merchants at scale. Anything we build together must pass the same test that everything at StoreHub passes: does it help merchants sell more? The larger shift within StoreHub continues alongside this: we are rebuilding our product around AI, so that a three-person restaurant can operate with the capability of a thirty-person one.”

Hojin Kim, CEO of ShardLab, said: “We have spent the past few years testing how new payment and rewards technologies can improve everyday consumer experiences. StoreHub gives us something fundamentally different: a distribution network of more than 20,000 real-world merchant locations. This partnership is about moving from pilots to scale and building products that create measurable value for both consumers and merchants.”

About ShardLab

ShardLab is the innovation arm of Hashed, a leading global Web3 venture capital firm based in Asia. Under the strategic partnership between Hashed and SCBX, the mothership of Thailand’s leading financial technology group and the parent company of Siam Commercial Bank, ShardLab carries out activities including Web3 R&D, venture building and ecosystem building. The firm says its vision is to foster mass adoption of Web3 in Southeast Asia, making technology accessible and empowering communities in the region.

About Hashed

Hashed partners with founders shaping the next paradigm in blockchain, AI and content, joining them from the earliest moments as technology redraws the boundaries of industries. Headquartered in Seoul and operating from five global hubs across San Francisco, Singapore, Bangkok, Bangalore and Abu Dhabi, Hashed provides capital, networks and on-the-ground execution designed to help founders move beyond a single region and reach scale in global markets.

About StoreHub

StoreHub is one of Southeast Asia’s leading commerce platforms, providing point-of-sale, payments, loyalty and online ordering solutions for retail and F&B businesses. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, StoreHub serves more than 20,000 merchant locations across Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan, processing more than 200 million transactions annually with a total annual transaction value of approximately US$3.5 billion. StoreHub says its mission is to make it simple for anyone to build a successful business. It describes its platform as powerful, designed for ease of use and built around AI that enables a small team to operate with the capability of a much larger one.

Media contact: Rachel Kim, rachel@shardlab.com