A story of two entrepreneurs whose companies are bringing new ways of living and working into the mainstream

L-R: Intellect’s Theodoric Chew and Fazz’s Hendra Kwik

On the left is Theodoric Chew, CEO and founder of Intellect, a mental healthcare technology company that has more than 3 million users globally and is serving MNCs, institutions, businesses, and organizations across industries.

On the right is Hendra Kwik, CEO and co-founder of Fazz Group, a regional fintech group that includes Fazz Agen (agent-led financial services network in Indonesia), Fazz Business (neobanking services for business), and StraitsX (payment infrastructure for digital assets).

While one is in healthcare and the other in financial services, both entrepreneurs have been at the helm of companies making both healthcare and financial services more accessible to more people in Asia. The similarities extend further:

(1) Life has a way of coming full circle for both entrepreneurs.

Hendra’s childhood growing up in rural Indonesia with his family not having enough access to financial services to pay for his education, his mother’s hospital bills, or his father’s business left a deep impact on his entrepreneurial journey. Returning to Indonesia after a few years in Brazil, he then saw an opportunity redefine the way financial services are accessed by families like his through app-enabled agents in warungs, as opposed to bank branches. Thus began Payfazz, now Fazz Agen, a network with more than 300,000 active agents across the country.

Theo started Intellect from his own pain points looking for the right avenues of care for his own mental well being throughout his life. These experiences shaped Intellect’s priorities: focusing on localized, cost-effective, and de-stigmatized care.

(2) What got the company from 0 to 1 isn’t what will get it from 1 to 100.

Intellect initially launched as a consumer app that rapidly gained a global audience and spotlighted on Google Play’s Top App lists. But what has really established the company as a leader in mental health space especially in APAC has been its enterprise solution that many MNCs and healthcare providers have tapped into for their employees and clients.

A key turning point for Payfazz was when it joined forces with Xfers in 2019/2020 to form Fazz. It marked new opportunity for both companies to serve a wider market and also leverage each other’s technology backbone.

(3) Both entrepreneurs are bringing previously niche and frontier innovation into the mainstream

Whether it’s enabling entrepreneurial mothers build businesses on top of Fazz’s services, or developing digital assets like XSGD that is now accessible on apps like Grab, Fazz has been bringing into the mainstream new forms of financial services that are most efficient, cost-effective, and accessible.

More on XSGD and StraitsX in our latest podcast with Tianwei

More on Fazz’s agent network in this LinkedIn Post

Intellect has been making strides in bringing mental healthcare into the mainstream in Asia, most notably in their work with the Singapore government as mental health care has become a national priority. They have also expanded their enterprise offerings across markets beyond Southeast Asia, including the US through their partnership with Accresa, as well as in Japan.

For more on the breadth of the company’s thought leadership, Intellect recently published a report on workplace wellbeing covering 50,000 surveys across 10 APAC industries

Learn more about Theo’s journey: https://review.insignia.vc/tag/intellect/

Learn more about Fazz’s journey: https://review.insignia.vc/tag/fazz/