Caecilia Chu

When Caecilia Chu co-founded YouTrip in 2018, Southeast Asia’s fintech landscape was still taking shape. Mobile wallets existed, but a cross-border, multi-currency platform for everyday travellers was virtually unheard of. Chu, together with co-founder Arthur Mak, set out to fill that gap—guided by a conviction that pioneering something new might be difficult, but it was the only way to move a market forward.

A graduate of the Wharton School and Harvard Business School, Chu began her career at McKinsey & Company before joining Citigroup, where she focused on growth investment in financial and consumer technology. Her first start-up, an e-commerce venture in Hong Kong, did not succeed—but it gave her the resilience and clarity she would later bring to YouTrip.

Launched in Singapore, YouTrip redefined cross-border spending through a multi-currency e-wallet that enables users to hold and spend in more than 150 currencies at real-time wholesale exchange rates—without markups or hidden fees. Built on a bank-grade platform, the app combines intuitive design with transparency and security, empowering users to spend globally with ease.

When the pandemic grounded travel, YouTrip pivoted to serve its existing base of freelancers and SMEs with YouBiz, a business payments platform that allows companies to make and receive cross-border payments, issue multi-currency corporate cards, and manage expenses with greater control. The move kept the company growing through lockdowns and expanded its reach beyond consumers to enterprises.

Today, YouTrip continues to expand across the region, with operations in Singapore and Thailand and an upcoming launch in Australia. Beyond the boardroom, Chu devotes her time to causes close to her own story—education, youth, and women’s leadership. The daughter of a postman and a kindergarten teacher in Hong Kong, she serves on the boards of the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Systems Science, YouthTech SG, and the International Women’s Forum Singapore.