Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.

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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

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🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. PB Fintech, parent company of PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar, reported INR 72cr ($ 8.5M) net profit for Q3 FY25, up 92% YoY, and INR 1,292cr ($ 152M) revenue, up 48% YoY.
2. Upstox, an online discount stock broker, reported INR 190cr ($ 22.4M) profit for FY24, an 8x increase year-over-year.
3. Arohan, a microfinance institution, self-imposed a margin cap of 12% to restrict its annual business growth to 25%.
4. Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL), a credit information company, reported slower retail credit growth during the Sep 2024 quarter amid cooling consumer demand.
5. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) developed ‘supervisory discomfort’ with a couple of small finance banks (SFBs) due to high concentration risks and rising asset quality stress concerns suggesting mergers in the Small Finance Bank (SFB) sector, to mitigate risks.
6. RBI, India's central banking authority, reported India's credit card debt grew 25% YoY and digital payments value increased 33.5% in 2024 according to the RBI's Payments System Report.
7. ICICI Bank reported INR 11,000cr ($ 1,294M) net profit for Q3, growing 15% YoY.
8. Yes Bank reported INR 612 crore ($ 72M) net profit for Q3 FY2025, growing 164% YoY.
9. PB Fintech, parent company of PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar, will invest INR 860cr (USD 100M) for a 25% stake in PB Health.
10. RBI reported an increase in loan disputes and mobile banking complaints in FY24.
11. Equity mutual funds witnessed inflows of nearly INR 4 lakh crores ($ 47bn) in FY2024, more than doubling from the previous fiscal according to industry data.
12. Aditya Birla Housing Finance (ABHFL), India, raised INR 830cr (USD 97.6M).

🚀 Product Launches

1. Finvasia, financial product company, partnered with Yes Bank to launch Jumpp, an AI-enabled super app, providing banking, investing, and financial services.
2. CRED and MobiKwik launched a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) wallet in partnership with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and private banks, enabling retailers and users to transact using the RBI's digital currency.
3. Flipkart partnered with banks to launch credit card bill payments to pay credit card bills from the Flipkart app.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (Central bank): Took over Aviom Housing Finance Limited's board, a non-banking finance company (NBFC), due to governance concerns after auditors raised red flags. Accepted Exto's digital payment solution which utilises Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in combination with private biometric authorisation to enable offline card-to-card and card-to-phone transactions.
2. SEBI (securities): Issued guidelines prohibiting 'finfluencers' from promoting investment advice disguised as education, imposing potential penalties and fines. Launched iSPOT - Integrated SEBI Portal for Technical glitches, for market infrastructure institutions (stock exchanges, clearing houses and depositories) to report technical glitches.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. InsuranceDekho, an insurance aggregator, raised INR 121cr ($ 14.2M).
2. Ambak, a home loan marketplace startup, raised INR 59.5cr (USD 7M).
3. GrowXCD Finance, a SME finance startup in South India, raised INR 50cr ($ 6M).
4. BizLoan, a small business lending startup, raised INR 35cr (USD 4.1M).

ACQUISITIONS:

1. Raise Fintech, a stock broking startup, acquired Filter Coffee, a news media startup.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) mandated Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) providers to apply for credit licenses by September 2025.
2. Life Card, a Japanese credit card company, partnered with IDEMIA to launch biometric payment cards that require fingerprint authentication, targeting enhanced security for in-person transactions.
3. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued guidance for the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in central banks, aimed at assisting central banks in evaluating the benefits and risks of using AI.
4. Singapore is witnessing increased adoption of eKYC solutions by financial institutions and businesses.
5. Etiqa, a Singapore-based insurance arm of Malaysia’s Maybank Group, launched Etiqa Smart PlanNZ, Singapore's first new takaful insurance product in years. Takaful is an Islamic insurance system based on mutual assistance and cooperation.
6. DealMe partnered with Visa to launch cross-border card installment payments.
7. Coins.ph, a Philippine cryptocurrency exchange, reported turning profitable from growing 60% YoY.
8. Bangkok Bank, a Thai financial institution, reported $1.3bn net profit for 2024, growing 8.6% YoY.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. 129knots, a Southeast Asian real-world asset digitisation startup, raised $ 10M.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. Abhi, a Pakistani fintech startup, acquired a majority stake in FINCA Microfinance Bank for an undisclosed amount.
2. JuanTax, a Philippines-based tax filing platform, merged with JazPayroll to launch an AI-powered accounting tool, combining tax filing and payroll services.

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