Asia

October 25, 2022 @ 9:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Japan’s “only” international payment brand JCB Co., Ltd. has launched “JCBDC” (JCB Digital Currency) pilot project with identity technologies no. 1 IDEMIA and Fintech company Soft Space Sdn. Bhd. JCBDC pilot will “develop a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) payment solution and conduct a pilot… Read More

October 24, 2022 @ 10:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kenzz, the “mass” e-commerce solution bringing reliable online shopping to the mass market in Egypt and MENA, recently announced that it has completed a $3.5 million seed fund raise. The investment round was “led by Outliers Venture Capital – a venture capital fund backing early-stage… Read More

October 23, 2022 @ 11:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Leveraging the firm’s expertise in asset management and Bitcoin Mining, JKL Group is set to raise “a $50M mining infrastructure fund from family offices, HNWI, and institutional investors active in the digital assets space.” JKL Group is reportedly “the first APAC headquartered digital asset management… Read More

October 23, 2022 @ 10:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cashfree Payments, which claims to be one of India’s leading payments and API banking solutions companies, announced the launch of Card Issuance Stack with their new solution ‘Issuance’ “to enable businesses such as fintechs and platforms to launch prepaid cards and wallets for their customers,… Read More

October 21, 2022 @ 11:03 am By JD Alois  |  

Global investment crowdfunding platform OurCrowd has partnered with India-based JITO Angel Network (JAN). According to multiple reports, the deal is for OurCrowd to provide access to investment opportunities for JITO’s members. OurCrowd is one of the largest digital VC platforms in the world that provides… Read More

October 20, 2022 @ 3:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UOB (SGX: U11) recently announced the launch of the UOB Sustainability Compass at the Gateway to ASEAN Conference. The Sustainability Compass is a tool that “provides a step-by-step guide for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to overcome their inertia and kickstart their sustainability journeys.” As… Read More

October 18, 2022 @ 7:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Wio Bank PJSC, the region’s first platform bank, has announced a partnership with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, which will “enable SMEs in the UAE to access the power of e-commerce faster and more easily and conveniently.” Through this partnership, Wio Business, the… Read More

October 18, 2022 @ 12:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ant Group announced that Alipay+ has expanded its enablement of seamless travel experiences to Japan, where over 1 million local merchants are now “connected to global cross-border digital payments and marketing capabilities to better serve consumers across the world.” Universal Studios Japan is the latest… Read More

October 17, 2022 @ 9:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Agribusiness Rural Bank, Inc., which is reportedly one of the top ten rural banking institutions based in the Philippines, also referred to as Agribank, has launched a new mobile banking App for Android and iOS, developed and delivered by Geniusto International. This secure and configurable… Read More

October 17, 2022 @ 9:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Regional Insurtech Igloo, in partnership with e-commerce giant Shopee, introduced Home Content Insurance in Vietnam, the “first” comprehensive protection solution “for indoor assets, against unexpected events such as natural disasters and fire in the platform.” The Home Content Insurance is “underwritten by Bao Viet Insurance,… Read More

October 17, 2022 @ 9:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Merchant commerce omnichannel platform, Pine Labs announced that it has “entered the wearables segment in the consumer electronics category.” Shoppers in India can now “purchase wearable devices of select brands on a Buy Now Pay Later arrangement using Pine Labs’ PoS terminals.” Top brands offering… Read More

October 17, 2022 @ 9:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that Ms. Gillian Tan will be appointed Chief Sustainability Officer “from 17 October 2022, in addition to her current role as Assistant Managing Director (Development & International).” MAS’ current Chief Sustainability Officer, Dr. Darian McBain, will “leave MAS… Read More

October 17, 2022 @ 7:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Dubai-based financial services platform Five FS has officially launched in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia and also secured $3.5 million in seed funding. Five FS’ investment round was reportedly led by Romanian VC firm Zeyshare Ventures “at a $30 million valuation.” As… Read More

October 16, 2022 @ 3:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

ICICI Bank says it has launched four digital banking units, or DBUs. ICICI Bank is a leading private sector bank in India with a market cap of around $74 billion. According to the Bank, its launch of these DBUs aligns with the government’s plan to… Read More

October 15, 2022 @ 2:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain.com, a leading crypto wallet provider, digital asset trading platform, and block explorer service provider, recently revealed that it has “secured an in-principle approval for the Major Payment Institution License offering Digital Payment Token services from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).” With this preliminary… Read More

October 14, 2022 @ 6:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Bank Indonesia recently announced the winners of the G20 TechSprint 2022 challenge during a live award ceremony in Jakarta. This year’s competition, under the Indonesian G20 Presidency, was launched in April to catalyze new technologies that “would better… Read More

October 14, 2022 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

  This past week, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) revealed it had received regulatory approval to provide services in Singapore, the leading Fintech hub in Asia,  At the same time, it was announced that Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong is expected to participate at the annual Singapore… Read More

October 13, 2022 @ 9:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

FlapKap, a tech-enabled revenue-based financing platform in the Mena region, “revolutionizing” e-commerce growth, announced the close of its $3.6 million Seed round. The investment round “included participation from Bolt by QED, Nclude, Outliers, and A15.” This latest capital injection “comes six months after the company’s… Read More

October 13, 2022 @ 11:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Pillow, a Singapore-based crypto investment platform that currently reports serving 75,000 users in over 60 countries, has raised an $18 million Series A funding round. The capital injection was led by Accel, Quona Capital, Elevation Capital, and Jump Capital. Pillow notes that Elevation Capital was… Read More

October 12, 2022 @ 10:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ICICI Bank recently announced the launch of an online solution “to help its customers carry out SWIFT based inward remittances in a faster and hassle-free manner.” Named, ‘Smart Wire’, the facility allows both NRIs and resident customers “to undertake inward remittance transactions in an online… Read More