Online remittance startup Toast has won a second round of funding – US$1.5 million to fuel expansion in Asia and potentially expand into the loan sector.

Toast is only two years old, but has already has remittance licenses in Singapore, Hong Kong and the UK and is already processing around $1 million a month in transfers from OFWs in Hong Kong to the Philippines. It is app-based, but plans to open physical stores soon in key markets to give a human face to the business and assist with information and troubleshooting.

Toast co-founder and CEO Aaron Siwoku says the company was founded to help migrant workers send money back home easily and at minimal cost – and without having to endure long queues at money transfer offices, a common phenomenon in places like Hong Kong and Singapore on Sundays, especially, when domestic workers usually a day off.

“We’re building something that we hope one day can become a digital bank,” Siwoku told Tech in Asia in an interview. “So the traction we’re building is not with users – it’s with regulators.”

Toast’s new funding has been led by Aetius Capital, a Singapore-based investment firm which has back Toast from the start. Other investors included US venture capital fund 1776 and Australian financial services company Pepper Group.

With new funds secured, Toast now plans to open a physical store in Hong Kong and commence operations in Singapore with a store at Lucky Plaza on Orchard Rd. Other markets are also now in its sights, including Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

And it may expand into small loans against future transfers.

“The plan for us is to evolve into a financial services platform for the unbanked,” said Siwoku.