Tech giant Sea opens new digital finance headquarters in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Tech company Sea Limited on Thursday (May 8) opened its new headquarters in Singapore for its digital financial services business.

The company runs digital financial platforms including mobile wallets, payment processing and banking. Previously called SeaMoney, it was rebranded to Monee on Thursday.

The office at Rochester Commons, which is a six-minute walk from Buona Vista MRT, spans 10 floors and more than 200,000 square feet, including an auditorium on the ninth floor of the building.

The headquarters will initially accommodate over 1,000 digital finance professionals, but it has capacity for up to 1,500 employees.

It has more than 100 meeting rooms and "product innovation spaces", a well as a cafe and a gym.

There will also be Centres of Excellence in product management, artificial intelligence and anti-money laundering.

Sea was founded in May 2009 by Mr Forrest Li, who is also the chief executive and chairman of the company.

Originally focused on online gaming under the name Garena, Sea now also runs e-commerce platform Shopee and owns MariBank, one of the five digital banks in Singapore.

"We chose the name Monee because it is simple, cute, and just like Sea, easy to write and pronounce," said Mr Li.

"By carrying the same sound as 'money', its name instantly connects to what the business is about," he said, adding that Monee seeks to better the lives of consumers and small businesses with technology in the area of finance.

The name also "echoes" sister brand Shopee, said Sea.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng attended the opening of Monee's office, which was also a 16th anniversary celebration for Sea.