Asia

April 13, 2022 @ 5:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Paymob, MENA region’s virtual payments provider, has announced its formal market entry, and “start of operations, in Pakistan.” Paymob’s expansion into Pakistan follows its steady growth in its home market of Egypt, plus Jordan and other world regions where – combined – it “services tens… Read More

April 13, 2022 @ 5:12 am By JD Alois  |  

JULO, an online lender serving consumers in Indonesia, has raised $80 million in capital from Japan-based Credit Saison. The new funding is split between $30 million in equity plus a $50 million debt facility. Investors from previous rounds include Skystar Capital, Saratoga Investama, East Ventures,… Read More

April 12, 2022 @ 11:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong’s insurance firm OneDegree recently revealed that it has agreed to a 3-year  partnership with Munich Re in order to introduce OneInfinity, a digital asset insurance product. As noted in the update, OneInfinity is an insurance and tech product offering developed specifically for digital… Read More

April 12, 2022 @ 10:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Investcorp, a global alternative investments firm, recently announced the launch of eLydian Lion, which is reportedly the first dedicated institutional blockchain fund based in the GCC, with “a global investment mandate.” The Fund – which will be led from Investcorp’s Abu Dhabi office – will… Read More

April 12, 2022 @ 9:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kayamo is teaming up with Netbank, a fully-regulated bank that provides Banking-As-A-Service solutions through open APIs, to improve the way they release loan payouts and collect loan repayments–”overall, to provide a better user experience for their end-customers.” Prior to this partnership, Kayamo needed “to complete… Read More

April 12, 2022 @ 6:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Southeast Asia’s digital wealth management platform StashAway recently revealed that John Tsang Chun-wah, Hong Kong’s former Financial Secretary, has officially joined StashAway’s advisory committee. Tsang was reportedly the longest-serving Financial Secretary as he had occupied the position from 2007 until 2017. As mentioned in the… Read More

April 12, 2022 @ 8:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Philippines-based Fintech Voyager Innovations has acquired $210 million in capital from trading and investment company Susquehanna International Group and existing backers such as US-based private-equity company KKR & Co. and Chinese tech firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. The operator of payment and financial services app PayMaya… Read More

April 11, 2022 @ 10:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd, part of the Ping An Group, has signed a 10-year exclusive strategic partnership with Pismo, a banking Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider. According to a company statement, OneConnect current services will be augmented by Pismo’s “multi-tenant SaaS platform” to serve a broader… Read More

April 11, 2022 @ 10:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong – ZA Tech Global Limited, a Singaporean tech venture founded by ZA International and backed by Softbank’s Vision Fund 1, has become “the latest strategic partner to collaborate with Aladin Bank as an investor and a business partner, and is fully committed to… Read More

April 11, 2022 @ 6:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, Republic officially announced its long-anticipated expansion into Asia. The company has previously expressed its intent to move into other geographies. Last year, Republic made its first big leap into Europe via the acquisition of Seedrs, a UK-based investment crowdfunding platform that has long-listed… Read More

April 10, 2022 @ 11:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Seed Group, a subsidiary of the Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, recently entered a “strategic” alliance with PayCargo, a Florida-headquartered global logistics payment platform, in order “to bring its tried and tested payment technology to the UAE.” As noted in an… Read More

April 10, 2022 @ 10:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Nexum Foundation and The Climate Group Africa aim to disrupt the shipping industry, according to a public release. Nexum Foundation has reportedly agreed to provide its technology platform to power a new carbon credits exchange using blockchain technology. In partnership with HBKDOP Dubai, UAE, and… Read More

April 10, 2022 @ 5:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Generali Hong Kong and Hong Kong’s “No.1” virtual bank – ZA Bank recently announced the commencement of their bancassurance partnership. This partnership is “the first of its kind in Hong Kong between a well-established global insurer and a leading virtual bank in the city, with… Read More

April 8, 2022 @ 8:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Wealth managers may now introduce more of their end-investors to the world of private investments via a newly-launched institutional service on digital securities exchange ADDX. Corporate treasuries and family offices may also “take part in the space via a corporate service to diversify their portfolios… Read More

April 7, 2022 @ 11:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

RockX, one of Asia’s largest crypto staking providers, announced the completion of its $6 million Series A funding round. The investment round was led by Amber Group, a global digital asset platform, and was joined by other prominent crypto industry leaders “including Matrixport, Primitive Ventures,… Read More

April 7, 2022 @ 8:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

WeLab, a pan-Asian fintech platform, announced the appointment of Bruno Lee as Advisor. Bruno held various management positions “in various large-scale multinational banks and financial institutions, in which he led the development of wealth management and asset management businesses across Asia.” With his extensive experience… Read More

April 7, 2022 @ 7:15 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Gupshup, a conversational messaging platform, this week announced it has acquired Active.Ai, a conversational AI platform popular with banks and fintechs. The terms of the deal were not made public. Based in Singapore, Active.Ai distributes its Conversational Banking-as-a-Service platform to customers in 43 countries, including the… Read More

April 7, 2022 @ 7:10 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

The BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have developed a new prototype platform integrating regulatory data and analytics. Known as Project Ellipse, the platform demonstrates how regulatory and other data, such as articles and news, can be integrated into… Read More

April 6, 2022 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PopID, a consumer authentication service, and Visa (NYSE: V), a key player in digital payments, announced a partnership “to collaborate on launching facial verification payment acceptance in the Middle East region.” The goal of the partnership is “to provide cardholders with new safe, secure, and… Read More

April 6, 2022 @ 11:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-headquartered fractional share trading Fintech Gotrade has secured $15.5 million via a Series A round that was led by Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures. MUFG, BeeNext, Kibo Ventures, Picus Capital, LocalGlobe, Social Leverage, and Raptor also joined GoTrade’s latest investment round. Established back in 2019, the… Read More