Asia

Indian Fintech Razorpay Acquires TERA Finlabs to Strengthen Underwriting and Collections

Indian fintech firm Razorpay has acquired a lending startup TERA Finlabs for an undisclosed amount. TERA Finlabs, based in Bengaluru in India, is a subsidiary of UK-based digital lender Gain Credit. It provides technology-based solutions, such as risk management, customer onboarding, verification, underwriting, and collections,… Read More

Visa Reports Strong Cashless Payments Adoption in Southeast Asia along with Rise in Online Shopping Post COVID

Visa (NYSE:V) notes in a comprehensive report that the past year and a half has been quite challenging for many individuals and businesses, with the global COVID-19 pandemic “vastly changing the way we live, work and shop.” Visa has released a detailed report in which… Read More

UK’s Open Banking Fintech TrueLayer Appoints Tilen Chetty, Dan Gaskin to Focus on APAC Expansion

TrueLayer, the global Open Banking solution provider, reveals that it has hired technical professionals in Australia in order to expand operations in the APAC region. Tilen Chetty will be joining TrueLayer in Sydney as Product Lead and Dan Gaskin will be working out of the… Read More

Philippines based BaaS Fintech Netbank Partners Alternative Lenders so their Platforms Can Expand Operations

Philippines-based Netbank has now partnered with several alternative lenders so that the lending platforms can expand their operations without having to acquire additional funding. Netbank, the first Southeast Asia-based banking as a service (BaaS) platform operating via a bank license, is reportedly working closely with… Read More

Binance Exits Stock Token Trading

Digital assets are inclusive of securities, commodities, utilities, and all of the above. For crypto exchanges, the ability to trade security tokens makes sense – if you are fully compliant. Yesterday, the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance announced it will no longer support stock tokens…. Read More

Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Says Binance Security Token Offerings are Unregulated Activity

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a notice that Binance may be offering stock token offerings to Hong Kong investors. The SFC stated that Binance is not licensed to offer regulated activity in Hong Kong. Binance has recently been the target… Read More

Saudi Arabia based Fintech Geidea, which Supports Small Businesses, Appoints Nick Ogden to its Board of Directors

Geidea, one of the largest Fintechs in Saudi Arabia in terms of market share, has reportedly appointed the global financial services and Fintech-focused professional Nick Ogden to the company’s Board of Directors. Geidea’s management states: “Supporting small businesses to succeed is at the heart of… Read More

Insurtech: Hong Kong’s Digital Insurance Firm Blue Launches New Outpatient Plan

Hong Kong-based digital life insurance firm Blue has confirmed the launch of its WeMedi Top Up (Outpatient) Protector, which is a top-up outpatient plan offered as part of the digital life insurance market. As noted by its management: “Blue is Hong Kong’s first digital life… Read More

Venture Unit of Thailand’s SCB Announces New DeFi Investment through Aggregator, Portfolio Dashboard, Ape Board

SCB 10X, the venture division of Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank or SCB (BKK: SCB), has confirmed its most-recent investment into the decentralized finance (DeFi) space through asset aggregator and portfolio dashboard provider, Ape Board. The firm, which currently has over 350,000 users, acquired within 4… Read More

Hong Kong’s Digital Tech Park Cyberport Confirms HKD 14.87M Investment into Four High-Potential Startups

Hong Kong’s digital technology park Cyberport confirms that it has invested HKD 14.87 million (appr. $1.92 million) into the operations of four of the startups in its network. The companies include Lynk, Rice Robotics, Dash Living and Hex Trust. These investments have been made during… Read More

Spendwisor, a Mobile Payment App with US, UK, Qatar Offices, Secures $50M from Luxembourg’s GEM Global Yield

Spendwisor, a US-headquartered mobile payment app with business offices and service locations in Qatar and the United Kingdom, has confirmed a QAR 190 million ($50 million) investment commitment from GEM Global Yield, a $3.4 billion Luxembourg-headquartered private alternative investment group. The company plans to use… Read More

Singapore based Fintech Lending Solution Provider CrediLinq.Ai Secures SGD 1.35M via New Funding Round

Singapore-headquartered financial services tech firm, CrediLinq.Ai, reveals that it has acquired SGD 1.35 million through a new funding round. The Fintech lender says that it plans to transform how credit is underwritten to SMEs using advanced tech solutions that will be integrated within its lending… Read More

Digital Wealth Management Fintech Syfe Secures SGD 40M via Series B led by Valar Ventures

Singapore-based Syfe, a digital or online wealth management company, has secured SGD 40 million through a Series B round. Syfe‘s investment round has been led by US-headquartered Valar Ventures, the VC fund co-founded by Peter Thiel, which led Syfe’s Series A round and was the… Read More

Reserve Bank of India Decides to Indefinitely Prevent Mastercard from Providing New Debit, Credit Cards to Locals

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed on Wednesday (July 14, 2021) that it has decided to indefinitely ban Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) from providing any new debit or credit cards to local clients for allegedly violating data storage guidelines. This move appears to be… Read More

Fintech Software Testing Solution Provider, Exactpro, to Expand Operations into Lithuania, Sri Lanka

Exactpro, an independent provider of software testing solutions for “mission-critical” financial technology, will establish new subsidiaries in Lithuania as well as Sri Lanka. Alexey Zverev, Co-CEO and Co-founder at Exactpro, notes that it’s been a great honor for the company to serve its customers globally… Read More

Cross Border Compliance Firm Eurora Raises $3 Million Seed Round

Eurora Solutions, an Estonian firm that offers an AI/ML service for cross-border transactions, has raised a $3 million seed round, according to a note from the firm. The seed round was led by Change Ventures which was joined by angels including the founders of Printify,… Read More

Mobile-Only, Shariah Compliant Banking Solution Introduced by Boubyan Bank in the UK

Boubyan Bank has introduced a mobile-only, Sharia-compliant banking solution in the United Kingdom. The platform will aim to address the requirements of individuals residing in the Middle East who may have international banking needs. As noted in the announcement, Nomo will be providing a new… Read More

Softbank Vision Fund 2 Leads Fintech M1 Finance’s $150M Round, Company Now Valued at $1.45B

Brian Barnes, the Founder and CEO at M1 Finance, notes that he’s pleased to confirm the company’s $150 million Series E round, led by Softbank’s Vision Fund 2 along with participation from existing investors. M1 Finance‘s latest investment round brings the company’s valuation to $1.45… Read More

Global Payments Fintech Thunes Partners ABA Bank to Help Cambodians Send Money Back Home

Thunes, a global payments network, has teamed up with ABA Bank so that they can enable Cambodians overseas to send funds back home “quicker and cheaper from around the world.” As noted in a release shared with CI: “Previously, customers making international money transfers to… Read More

Kredent InfoEdge Private Ltd, Operator of India’s StockEdge and Elearmarkets, Secures $1.34M+ from Kotak Securities, Others

Kredent InfoEdge Private Limited (KIPL), an entity that operates the Indian brands StockEdge and Elearnmarkets, has acquired growth capital of INR 10 Crore (appr. $1.35 million) from Kotak Securities Ltd in order to expand their existing product capabilities while growing their user base. This is… Read More

Send this to a friend