CEO and co-founder of YouTrip Caecilia Chu is revolutionising multicurrency travel

In 2012, Chu left the corporate world to set up a Hong Kong-based e-commerce business which shuttered two years later. After taking a hiatus for two years, the entrepreneur decided to establish You Technologies after recognising the pain points of travellers—especially when it came to extra foreign transaction fees and poor exchange rates.

Her company’s first and only product YouTrip launched soon after, in 2018. Chu also shared that she decided to settle in Singapore due to her support from the Singapore government in the early days.

Changing the way we travel

With Chu’s visionary leadership, YouTrip has disrupted the traditional foreign exchange landscape, empowering travellers to make hassle-free transactions with no excessive fees, propelling the company to the forefront of the multicurrency travel wallet space. What’s more, Chu did so over the course of the pandemic.

One of her greatest accomplishments to date, Chu shared how YouTrip was able to survive and “come back stronger” as a company after the pandemic. “[During a time when international travel and tourism took a hard hit], we have grown in strength, stayed agile and expanded the brand’s services to B2B payments. I am extremely proud of what the YouTrip team has accomplished since we started,” she says.

As an early player in the industry, Chu shared that the company had the opportunity to “establish a strong foundation and built a robust infrastructure”. This enabled the company to regularly refine and develop its processes to create a comprehensive and reliable e-payment wallet for consumers.

She continued by explaining that entrepreneurship can be a challenging and unpredictable journey. However, it is important to “take the plunge to explore the unknown”.

Leading in a male-dominated industry

Not only is Chu pushing boundaries in the fintech industry, but she is also doing so as a woman. “As a woman in tech, I have been extremely fortunate to have been uplifted and supported by fellow women and peers in tech,” she says.

Instead of merely being defined as a woman, she was able to let her entrepreneurship abilities “speak for itself”.

As a female leader in a male-dominated fintech industry, she also sees it as her responsibility to continue raising female representation in tech. Recognising the persistent gender disparity in the fintech and technology fields, Chu hopes to be an inspiration for young women aspiring to pursue their passion in the industries. While in the workplace, she creates an “inclusive and supportive environment where everyone can succeed regardless of gender”.

Rising above the rest

While YouTrip is continuously making strides in the fintech industry, Chu also understands that there are many other players in the market—such as Revolut and Wise. The former is a UK-based company providing competitive exchange rates, expense tracking and instant top-ups. The latter focuses on low-cost international money transfers.

Each platform does have its unique strength. YouTrip’s advantage lies in its dedicated focus on travel-related expenses and intuitive user interface.

Chu shares that since day one, YouTrip has promised to offer the best rates all day. “This is a promise we made to our users from the beginning when we entered the market, and we’ll continue to hold ourselves to that promise,” the entrepreneur says.

Regardless of competitors, Chu continues to look forward. “For YouTrip, it’s a focus of ours to enhance our machine-learning capabilities to lead the fight against new methods of defrauding and safeguarding our platform,” she says. 

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