Asia

February 12, 2023 @ 6:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

MONIX Co., Ltd., a Bangkok-based AI-powered digital lending platform, announced that the company has secured US$20 million in the first close of its pre-IPO fundraising. The investment round was “led by the mothership SCBX and a new investor Lombard Asia, a Southeast Asia’s growth-focused private… Read More

February 10, 2023 @ 12:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Republic, a US-based online capital formation platform, now operating in Europe, has launched the website for Republic Asia. Last year, Republic closed on its acquisition of Seedrs – a large UK-based platform that has also been operating on the European continent. In March of 2022,… Read More

February 8, 2023 @ 9:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cashfree Payments, India’s payments and API banking solutions company, launched ‘Co-lend’, a fully automated escrow management solution for co-lending. ‘Co-lend’ has been developed in line “with the digital lending guidelines announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).” It facilitates instant disbursal “with auto reconciliation… Read More

February 8, 2023 @ 8:51 am By JD Alois  |  

Matrixport has had its UK wholly-owned subsidiary, Matrixport Advisors Limited, appointed as an Appointed Representative (AR) of Varramore Partners Limited (Varramore), which is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The relationship allows Matrixport to conduct a range of investment-related activities in the UK…. Read More

February 7, 2023 @ 11:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Innoviti Technologies in collaboration with Reliance Retail, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank announced the launch of in-store acceptance of retail payments via Digital Rupee – Retail [e₹-R]. After being the first to introduce dynamic QR based in-store UPI payments, Reliance Retail, in continuance of… Read More

February 6, 2023 @ 7:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance, which claims to be the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, has invested in GOPAX, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange licensed “to provide fiat-to-crypto services to customers, as part of its Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI).” In November 2022, GOPAX halted “the withdrawal… Read More

February 5, 2023 @ 6:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Gobi Partners, the “most interconnected” Pan-Asian venture capital (VC) firm with US$1.5 billion (RM6.5 billion) in assets under management has “onboarded four more promising Malaysian startups to its Gobi Superseed II Fund (Gobi SSII Fund).” The four firms “being onboarded are Islamic-themed streaming service Durioo+,… Read More

February 5, 2023 @ 1:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued the consultation conclusion to the discussion paper on crypto-assets and stablecoins (the “Consultation Conclusion”), summarizing the feedback “received in relation to the paper and the HKMA’s response.” In the Consultation Conclusion, the HKMA proposes “to bring certain activities… Read More

February 2, 2023 @ 9:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

ZA Bank Limited, one of the first regulated digital banks in Hong Kong, has announced the appointment of Ronald Iu as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. According to the bank, Iu joined ZA International, the parent company of ZA Bank, as Chief Strategy Officer… Read More

February 2, 2023 @ 8:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

MNT-Halan, Egypt’s “fastest growing” fintech ecosystem, announced that Chimera Abu Dhabi has invested more than $200 million in equity in exchange for over 20% of the company. In addition, the company claims it is “in advanced stages with leading international investors to raise $60 million… Read More

February 2, 2023 @ 3:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), a technology firm focused on the global payments industry, has partnered with Bahrain’s fintech and payment service provider Eazy Financial Services (EazyPay) that will now be powered by Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MPGS). MPGS is a trusted platform that “provides financial institutions… Read More

February 2, 2023 @ 11:24 am By JD Alois  |  

QED Investors has appointed Melissa Ho as its lead in Southeast Asia as the Fintech VC focuses on the hot Asian market. QED is one of the leading Fintech venture capital firms in the world. Ho, based in Singapore, will be looking for Fintech firms… Read More

February 1, 2023 @ 10:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

livi bank, Hong Kong’s “lifestyle-driven” virtual bank, is continuing its development with the pilot launch of its wealth management service, which “follows closely on livi’s launch of its first offering to Hong Kong’s SME business community.” livi is now able “to distribute funds managed by… Read More

February 1, 2023 @ 9:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Strike, which claims to be the world’s “leading” digital payments platform built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, announced the expansion of its “Send Globally” product to the Philippines. Send Globally now “enables fast, secure, and low-cost money transfers between the U.S. and the Philippines, revolutionizing traditional… Read More

January 31, 2023 @ 10:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the licensing of two finance companies that are “specialized in debt-based crowdfunding, namely: Forus and Tameed.” The licenses were “granted to the companies after successful testing of their solutions in SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox; an experimental environment dedicated to innovative… Read More

January 31, 2023 @ 7:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BharatX, an emerging white labelled credit enabler for e-commerce merchants, has  announced its partnership with Snitch – an online men’s clothing brand to offer buy now pay later services. Through the “SnitchPay” feature powered by BharatX, customers will be able “to pay for their purchases… Read More

January 31, 2023 @ 10:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

As this year’s week-long Chinese New Year holiday comes to an end, Ant Group would like to share some observations on Chinese consumers’ spring festival spending and trends. These findings “provide a snapshot of recovering consumption in China’s domestic market and outbound tourism market.” Main… Read More

January 30, 2023 @ 11:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Wafeq, a modern and easy-to-use accounting platform, has announced the completion of its $3 million seed round. The Dubai-headquartered company’s seed round was “led Raed Ventures by and saw participation from Wamda Capital, both of which are two of the most prominent names in the… Read More

January 30, 2023 @ 10:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Eazy Digital, a Thai insurtech startup that provides digital platforms for insurance companies, has raised US$850,000 in an oversubscribed seed funding round. The investment round was “led by Wavemaker Partners, with participation from Seedstars International Ventures, Wing Vasiksiri, and Sasin Bangkok Venture Club.” Eazy Digital… Read More

January 29, 2023 @ 6:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Hong Kong credit and charge card payments market is set “to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9% between 2022–2026 to reach HKD 831.9 billion ($106.7 billion) in 2026, driven by a significant shift in consumer preferences towards non-cash payment methods… Read More