Asia

June 11, 2021 @ 11:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Osome, a three-year-old Super App that digitizes accounting and compliance services for small businesses, has secured $16 million through a Series A round that received contributions from a group of investors including Target Global, AltaIR Capital, Phystech Ventures, S16VC, and Peng T. Ong (who joined… Read More

June 11, 2021 @ 10:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The innovation and ventures division at Standard Chartered (LON: STAN) has teamed up with fund manager Franklin Templeton in order to introduce a “wealth, health and lifestyle” consumer platform for Singapore residents. Excited to announce our partnership with @FTI_Global to launch Autumn in SG, a… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 11:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

GrabPay, the in-app wallet of Super app Grab, recently announced that it has introduced the GrabPay DuitNow QR feature across Malaysia. The GrabPay digital wallet was reportedly the first in Malaysia to sign-up with PayNet and offer this feature which is now available across the… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 10:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Southeast Asia-based Funding Societies, an established digital financing platform, has teamed up with Foodpanda in order to provide short-term online financing services for registered merchants (via Foodpanda’s network). Through the partnership, the companies have collectively disbursed RM1 million (appr. $240,000) in financing, which enables local… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 9:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-headquartered Fintech firm BondEvalue has secured $6 million in capital through its Series A round. The company has raised $10 million in total (to date). MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia and Citigroup were the new investors in BondEvalue’s latest investment round and are now expected to… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 8:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IT services firm Nityo Infotech has reportedly invested $100 million in Singapore-based Fintech company MatchMove Pay in exchange for an equity stake. Nityo is now the largest shareholder in MatchMove. Nityo‘s management noted that they value the company at $500 million pre-money and $600 million… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 8:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore‘s United Overseas Bank (UOB), a multinational banking organization with branches mostly based in Southeast Asian countries, has announced that it’s piloting the use of Government Technology Agency’s (GovTech) “Sign with Singpass” where a client’s digital signature is used to complete transactions or access product… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 7:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the central bank and financial regulatory authority of the city-state, confirmed recently that it will be setting aside $1.8 billion for Climate-related investment initiatives. The MAS, which administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities, and the… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 1:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Philippines-based virtual bank Tonik recently revealed that it has managed to acquire a digital banking license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the nation’s central bank. Before receiving this license, Tonik had been offering services under a rural banking license (since 2019). BSP has… Read More

June 9, 2021 @ 11:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ZA International has introduced a new integrated financial brand, called ZA One, which provides the IPOGo service, allowing people to take advantage of lucrative investment opportunities in initial public offerings (IPOs) space. IPOGo mainly focuses on capturing the significant growth of IPOs of Hong Kong-listed… Read More

June 9, 2021 @ 10:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced on Tuesday (June 8, 2021) the updated “Fintech 2025” strategy for promoting financial tech development in the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. Eddie Yue, CEO at HKMA,  has outlined Hong Kong’s new Fintech strategy,… Read More

June 8, 2021 @ 11:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pakistan has managed to attract a considerable amount of new capital to support its evolving Fintech sector and emerging startups. The significant increase in new funding actually began following the COVID-19 outbreak which led to many more consumers transacting online instead of visiting physical business… Read More

June 8, 2021 @ 9:37 pm By Priyanka Pani  |  

American venture capital fund Tiger Global has been on the prowl for Fintech startups worldwide. The investment firm has recently invested around $30 million in Briq, a Fintech platform for the construction industry, as per a TechCrunch report. With this, Briq has raised a total… Read More

June 8, 2021 @ 7:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Stemly, a supply chain inventory management and finance firm that was incubated by ING Labs in Singapore, has decided to now operate as a separate, independent initiative. VC fund Elev8, ING Ventures and EDB New Ventures, the corporate venture building division of EDB, along with… Read More

June 7, 2021 @ 11:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Razer, a leading gaming hardware producer, is looking to further diversify its operations by offering cryptocurrency-related services. At present, Razer is “carefully evaluating” a possible entry into the crypto sector, according to recent reports. Min-Liang Tan, CEO at Razer, a global lifestyle and gaming company,… Read More

June 7, 2021 @ 11:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (Private) Ltd (PKIC) recently made a PKR 500 million (appr. $3 million) equity investment into Planet N (Private) Ltd in order to support the fast-evolving startup sector in Pakistan. The new investment is reportedly part of Planet N’s $10 million funding… Read More

June 7, 2021 @ 10:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong based WeLab Bank, a newly-launched digital bank, reports that its total number of clients has exceeded 100,000 (registered users). As noted in a release shared with CI: “Riding on the strong momentum in customer growth in the first half of 2021, the Bank… Read More

June 7, 2021 @ 10:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

M2P Solutions, the API Infrastructure firm that launched operations earlier in 2021 with Abu Dhabi as one of its headquarters, has received its Visa Ready-certification which should help the company with working cooperatively with banks that are based in the MENA region.  The company will… Read More

June 7, 2021 @ 10:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

UNObank has received a digital bank license in the Philippines, according to a note from the company. Singapore-based Fintech DigibankASIA Pte. Ltd., creator of UNObank, has received approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to operate a bank in the Philippines. The company claims… Read More

June 7, 2021 @ 10:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The State Bank of India (SBI) (NSE:SBIN), a multinational, public sector banking and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, reports that it has made a strategic investment in Paypal-incubated digital payments Fintech Cashfree. Launched in 2015, the Bengaluru-headquartered Fintech firm handles more than… Read More