This Week in Fintech - Asia | 23rd Apr, 2022

Fintech news, updates and fund raise announcements from Asia for the week ending 23rd Apr, 2022.

Hi fintech friends,

Please enjoy all the news and updates from the past week in today’s edition. If you feel TWIF brings you value, please share it with your friends (and maybe suggest they subscribe too).

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✨ Fintech Happy Hour

After a successful first fintech happy hour in Bangalore, I’m excited to host the next Fintech Happy Hour! This time we meet in Delhi NCR.

Delhi NCR is home to several fintech unicorns, including the two public fintech startups - Paytm and Policybazaar. The region has a thriving fintech ecosystem and I can’t wait to get everyone in the same room!

Save the date for Wednesday, 27th April, 2022.

If you’d like to sponsor the happy hour, please email me at connect@osborne.vc

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Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity, I may be able to help - reach out to osborne@thisweekinfintech.com.

Want to be a This Week in Fintech - Asia Sponsor? Email me at sponsor@thisweekinfintech.com or see our sponsorship information here.

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🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week

Mayank Jain @jainmayank_943

WhatsApp theoretically could be one of the largest lenders. All they need to do is to take away the ability to write (or reply to messages) in case of user default, while fully allowing the ability to read.

April 22nd 2022

1 Retweet33 Likes

Joel John @joel_john95

Not a bear market yet.

April 18th 2022

14 Likes

Piyush Gupta @GuptPiy

(1/2) After a bullish 18months in public markets, US IPO volumes fell off the cliff in 1Q2022. Of this only ONE was a tech IPO! Same tough story in India too. But, markets can bounce back quickly too so companies shd be working on their readiness i.e 4 key factors while we wait..

April 18th 2022

2 Retweets19 Likes

Abhishek Arun @abhishekarun09

Kerala rocks with 19% contribution in terms of inward remittances

April 17th 2022

1 Retweet3 Likes

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🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. OneCard added South Indian Bank as its latest credit card bank sponsor partner.

2. Inoviti Payments was granted a patent for double debits settlement system in digital payments.

3. Poonawalla Fincorp (previously Magma Fincorp) partnered with KrazyBee to disburse $130mm in loans.

4. Zerodha reported a 60% YoY growth in revenue and profit for FY2022 (ending Mar-2022).

5. Life insurance companies have reported a 37% growth of new premiums in March, 2022. LIC, India's largest life insurance company, grew 51% during the same period.

6. Udaan, a B2B marketplace and finance startup, raised $200mm in debt financing.

7. Mudrex claimed to be the World's largest crypto index investing startup with 250K investors.

8. IRDAI, India's insurance regulator, may allow 100% FDI for new insurance license applicants.

🚀 Product Launches

1. ChargeBee partnered with Razorpay to launch subscription billing in India.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. IRDAI (insurance): Released an advisory against Even, a hospital healthcare subscriptions startup.

2. RBI (central bank): Released a notification regarding credit and debit card issuance and conduct.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency exchange, raised $135mm at $2bn valuation.

2. Kinara Capital, an SME finance startup, raised $50mm (equity and debt).

3. FinancePeer, an education finance startup, raised $30mm.

4. Recur, a revenue based finance startup for SaaS expenses, raised $30mm (equity and debt).

5. Loop Health, an employee health benefits startup, raised $25mm.

6. Vayana Network, a supply chain finance startup, raised $15mm.

7. Stockal, a US stock investment startup, raised $9mm.

8. SaveIN, a surgery financing startup, raised $4mm.

9. Koshex, a wealth management startup, raised $2.1mm.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. BillEase, a Philippine BNPL startup, raised $20mm in debt.

2. T-Hub launched as Asia's first crypto clubhouse in Bali.

3. Binance partnered with a Thai Energy Company for its entry strategy in the country.

4. Kredivo, an Indonesian BNPL company, launched Infinite Card, a virtual BNPL card.

5. FundPark, a Hong Kong based SME finance company, raised $250mm in debt.

6. Tiki, Vietnam's largest ecommerce company, launched TikiCoin, a blockchain based rewards system.

7. Stripe launched PayNow payment acceptance method in Singapore.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Abhi, a Pakistani earned wage access startup, raised $90mm.

2. MetaLend, an "NFT-as-collateral" lending startup, raised $5mm.

3. Doxa, a Singaporean industrials marketplace and finance startup, raised $2.2mm.

4. JiPay, a Singaporean fintech startup for immigrants, raised $1.3mm.

5. Hyperithm, a Tokyo and Seoul-based digital asset management startup, raised undisclosed funding.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. Alibaba's ANT Group acquired a majority stake in 2C2P, a South East Asian payments company.

2. Thunes acquired Tookitaki, a Singaporean fraud management startup, for $20mm.

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🌏 International

Please find our global coverage and consider subscribing.

• US and Global, written by Nik Milanovic published on Friday’s and Saturday’s.

• Europe and UK, written by Michael Jenkins published on Monday’s.

• Latin America, written by Christine Chang.

• Africa, written by Benjamin Dada.

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If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at osborne@thisweekinfintech.com. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.

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