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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. DSP Asset Managers partnered with Cybrilla to launch mutual fund services on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), targeting first-time investors in smaller Indian cities.
2. WhatsApp Pay, Meta's digital payments platform, grew transaction volumes by 17% MoM to 67M in June 2025 after cap removal, capturing less than 0.4% market share in India's competitive UPI payments landscape.
3. BillMart Fintech, a digital lending company, disbursed INR 2,500cr ($290M) across 24,000+ transactions, supporting over 40% Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) lending in FY25.
4. PayU India, a payment gateway business, processed $80bn in payments, raised revenue to INR 5,548cr ($ 644M), and targeted $100bn volume in FY26 while aiming for EBITDA and PAT profitability.
5. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported bank credit growth of 9.5% YoY in Q1 2025, with analysts predicting 12-13% growth in fiscal year 2025-26 driven by cheaper loans.
6. Indian investors invested INR 1.59 lakh crore ($18.5bn) in Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) flows, marking the highest first-half inflows on record with 32.6% YoY growth in H1 CY25.
7. SK Finance, a Jaipur-based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC), reported INR 13,261cr ($1.54bn) loan book in FY25, growing 27% YoY, and received SEBI approval for INR 2,200 crore (USD 25.4M) Initial Public Offering (IPO).
8. HDFC Life Insurance reported 12.5% APE growth in Q1 2025, projecting faster performance than industry despite early-year slowdown.
9. 4 Indian mutual funds, including SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential, HDFC Mutual Fund, and PPFAS Mutual Fund, reduced cash allocation to INR 204,000 crore ($23.7B) in June, representing 5% of total Assets Under Management (AUM).
10. South Indian Bank reported INR 322cr ($37M) net profit in Q1, rising 9.5% YoY, with improved asset quality and sharp increase in non-core income.
11. Axis Bank reported INR 5,806cr ($672M) net profit in Q2 2025, experiencing 4% YoY decline after implementing stricter bad loan provisions.
12. Plum, a group health insurance startup, plans to invest INR 200 cr ($2.3M) to expand into preventive healthcare services.
13. Snapmint, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) startup, recorded INR 158cr ($18M) revenue and turned profitable with INR 15cr ($1.7M) profit in FY25, growing 80% YoY.
14. Public sector banks grew home loan market share to 43% in FY25, growing from 34% in FY22 and surpassing private lenders.
15. HDFC Bank reported 14.6% incremental deposit market share and targeted advances growth faster than industry in FY26.
16. CareEdge Ratings reported India's non-life insurance premiums grew 5.2% YoY to INR 23,422cr ($2.7bn) in June 2025, crossing INR 3-lakh crore mark in FY25.
17. Augmont, a digital gold trading platform, filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to raise INR 1,000cr (USD 115.6M), targeting technology upgradation, geographical expansion, and entering lab-grown diamond market.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Flipkart enabled over 24,000 sellers to run ad campaigns without upfront payments, using a line-of-credit model based on existing platform revenue.
2. HDFC Bank launched 15 generative AI pilots to enhance operations, staff productivity, and customer service.
3. Dhan, a stock broking startup, launched autopay feature for stock investments, enabling automated trading or investment capabilities.
4. Xflow launched FX AI Analyst, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool enabling Indian businesses to optimise currency conversion decisions using real-time market indicators.
5. Capitalmind Mutual Fund launched its first fund offer - an open-ended Flexi Cap Fund, investing across market caps.
6. Even, a health protection startup, opened a 70-bed hospital in Bengaluru, restructuring doctor compensation to align with health outcomes and providing six months of post-surgical follow-up.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. Jupiter Money, a neobanking startup, secured IRDAI corporate agency licence to distribute life and general insurance products through its app.
2. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) formed panels of whole-time members to investigate regulatory violations by insurers and intermediaries in the insurance sector.
3. EximPe, a cross-border payments startup, secured Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Payment Aggregator – Cross Border (PA-CB) licence, processed $450M in transactions.
4. IRDAI granted R1 stage application approval to Westbridge Capital-backed Kiwi General Insurance.
5. IRDAI constituted a committee to vet licence applications from two proposed general insurers after chairman's departure.
6. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released consultation paper for categorisation and rationalisation of mutual fund schemes.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Infibeam Avenues, a payments company, raised INR 700 crore ($81M).
2. PayU India, a digital payments platform, received INR 303 cr ($35M) additional investment from Prosus, preparing for Initial Public Offering (IPO) in late fiscal year 2025.
3. Phi Commerce, an omnichannel payments startup, raised INR 51.4cr ($6M).

ACQUISITION:

1. EQT Private Equity acquired Niwas Housing Finance from IndoStar Capital Finance, and invested INR 500cr ($58M) in growth capital to expand operations in Indian housing finance sector.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Pluang, an Indonesian asset investment startup, enabled continuous trading of 650+ US stocks and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) for Indonesian investors, offering pre-market and extended hours trading capabilities.
2. Cathay United Bank partnered with Avaloq to establish first onshore private bank in Kaohsiung Asset Management Hub in Taiwan, leveraging technology platform for enhanced wealth management services.
3. Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) launched 24 use case trials for tokenised asset markets (crypto and CBDC) involving banks and fintech firms in Project Acacia's next phase.
4. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) developed stand-in capabilities for NETS point-of-sale terminals to enable payments during service disruptions.
5. Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security acquired FPT Telecom, a major telecommunications provider, to strengthen national cybersecurity and digital infrastructure oversight.
6. United Kingdom partnered with Singapore to support Financing Asia's Transition Partnership (FAST-P), pledging £70M for low-carbon energy projects in Southeast Asia.
7. Token Asia Korea partnered with Dalcom Wangatanghuru to launch digital platform Toxia in Indonesia.
8. Kaspersky reported 38,370 phishing attempts targeting Philippine financial institutions in 2024, with cybercriminals exploiting weak digital defenses and local consumer behaviours.
9. Hang Seng Bank and Bank of Communications explored creating a special vehicle to offload US$25B in bad loans, representing a two-decade high of 2% total loan portfolio.
10. Binance launched Sharia Earn, a Sharia-compliant crypto staking service certified by Amanie Advisors, targeting Islamic markets across Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa.
11. GXS Bank launched GXS Invest, a digital consumer investment solution offering Fullerton SGD Cash Fund with minimal investment of $0.8 (SGD 1) and complimentary personal accident insurance.
12. Razer Gold obtained Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), enabling digital payment services across gaming ecosystem.
13. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) completed quantum cybersecurity sandbox trial, explored quantum-safe technology to protect financial communications with banking partners.
14. MAS launched comprehensive AI adoption programme targeting 20 financial institutions across banking, insurance, capital markets, and payments sectors.
15. eToro, an European investment company, expanded operations in Singapore by obtaining Capital Markets Services (CMS) license.
16. Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) introduced a phone-based system to verify family trees and prevent unauthorised national identity entries.

💰 Financing Announcements

(no fundraise announcements?)

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If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at osborne@thisweekinfintech.com. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.

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