LIVE FROM RISE, HONG KONG: Will Gaybrick, CFO and chief product officer at Stripe (pictured, left), highlighted huge potential for m-commerce in Asia, fuelled by a new wave of people coming online and a lack of legacy payment infrastructure.

He said Stripe, a US-headquartered online payment company, is “incredibly optimistic” about the opportunities in Asia, as there is a perfect storm of countries with large populations and relatively developed economies.

“Only about half the population of APAC is online today, and you have about half a billion people across India and Southeast Asia coming online over the next couple of years,” he said.

He noted the region is free of many of the old payment methods and systems which are holding back some of the online economies in the west, “so you get to innovate from the ground up here”.

The size of Asia also creates a lot of challenges, he said. “One of the biggest challenges for us is being both global and hyperlocal at the same time. You have different regulations and need to understand local cultures. And you have new payment methods cropping up all over the region.”

Gaybrick noted that while it’s easier now to build a business than it’s ever been in history, regulations have increased and it’s harder to deal with regulators, especially in Hong Kong.