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

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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Coinbase, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange platform, is seeking regulatory approval to launch in India.
2. Temasek received RBI approval to increase its stake in AU Small Finance up to 7%.
3. Account aggregators are facing difficulties in accessing data from State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest bank.
4. Lenders approached RBI to ease rules on small ticket unsecured loans.
5. Okta, a US-based identity management startup, and Tazapay, a Singaporean cross border payments startup, launched in India.
6. Zaggle, an employee spend management startup, reported INR 19.7cr (USD 2.3M) profit for Q3 FY25, growing 30% YoY, with revenue increasing.
7. PhonePe, a digital payments company, shut down its Account Aggregator business.
8. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandated new banking domains like ".bank.in" and ".fin.in" to strengthen security for digital payments and transactions, effective from October 2025.
9. Rediff, the subsidiary of Infibeam Avenues India recevied approval from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services.
10. Health insurance's share in the non-life segment is expected to surpass other categories put together as the sector grows at a faster pace than motor and other segments.
11. EaseBuzz, a payments startup, received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an Online Payment Aggregator.
12. Prudential Plc, a British life insurer, explores divestment options for its stake in ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company (AMC), potentially paving way for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) by ICICI Prudential AMC.
13. Karnataka ranks 2nd highest in India for education loans, according to a report by Propelld.
14. Mswipe, a mobile Point of Sale (mPoS) solutions company, expects to grow to INR 450cr ($53M) in revenue by FY26 with a planned expansion in Southeast Asia.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Razorpay, a payments startup, launched Log In with Razorpay, an authentication solution for businesses and their end-users.
2. Okto, a Web3 wallet company, partnered with AnQ, a personal finance startup, to launch digital asset products on ANQ.
3. LeRemit, a cross border payments startup, launched LeDoc, a document management solution for international trade, enabling paperless trade finance operations.
4. Decentro, a fintech infra startup, launched a self-hosted centralised Know Your Customer (CKYC) solution.
5. ICICI Bank partnered with Infibeam Avenues to launch iShop, a commerce platform to reward users.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Removed credit card issuance restrictions on Kotak Bank. Released draft directions on Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) for cross-border Card Not Present (CNP) transactions. Updated a circular on credit lines through UPI, extending it to Small Finance Banks.
2. SEBI (securities): Amended the Intermediaries regulations, Depositories and Participants regulations and Securities Contracts regulations to include specific regulations on use of Artificial Intelligence in securities trading.
3. IFSCA (GIFT City Regulator): Approved Glomo's application to operate as a payment service provider.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Tonetag, an Indian payment solutions provider, raised $78M.
2. Cashfree Payments, a payment gateway startup, raised $53M.
3. Zeta, a banking tech startup, raised $30M at a $2bn valuation.
4. Bizloan, a small business lending startup, raised $4M.
5. Mysa, an business banking and finance startup, raised $2.8M.
6. ArthAlpha, an Indian artificial intelligence-based wealth management platform, raised INR 17cr (USD 2M).
7. RupeeFlo, a cross-border payments and remittance solution for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), raised $1M.

ACQUISITIONS

1. L&T Finance, an non-banking financial company in India, acquired the gold loan business from Paul Merchants for $62M.
2. Perfios acquired Clari5, a banking financial crime management, for an undisclosed amount.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. StraitsTrades, a Singapore-based Web3 enabler, partnered with Visa to launch StraitsTX Card, offering seamless crypto to fiat conversion for Visa payments.
2. Sri Lanka launched GovPay, a mobile app enabling digital payments for government services.
3. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced plans to establish a National Payment Schemes Entity (NPSE), a new regulatory body overseeing designated payment systems in Singapore, strengthening oversight of critical payment infrastructure.
4. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), a Singaporean bank, launched new initiatives to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore adopt sustainable business practices.
5. PolicyStreet, a Malaysian insurtech startup, launched Drive, a membership loyalty program.
6. Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SEC) granted a licence to Finsavvy, a digital brokerage platform, to provide online trading services.
7. South Korea's life insurance market, is projected to reach $158bn by 2029, according to a report.
8. Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund, partnered with Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) to launch a $60M fund.
9. SGS, a Swiss inspection and certification company, partnered with Singaporean Union FinTech to launch a Union Chain, a blockchain platform for digitizing trade documentation, enabling secure sharing and verification of trade-related documents.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Finmo, a Singaporean treasury management startup, raised $18M.
2. PayD, a Malaysian earned wage access startup, raised $400K.
3. Atome Financial, a Singaporean buy now, pay later (BNPL) company, raised $94M (debt).

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