Hi fintech friends,

Please enjoy all the news and updates from the past week in today’s edition. If you feel TWIF brings you value, please share it with your friends (and maybe suggest they subscribe too).

Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity, I may be able to help - reach out to osborne@thisweekinfintech.com.

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🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week

📈 Chart of the Week

According to the Fintech Index, global public fintech startup stock prices are down -57% compared to the Cloud Index (index of cloud companies) -17.2%.

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Signzy received a US-patent for customer sign up and onboarding in the metaverse using virtual reality.
2. Aditya Puri, ex-Chairman of HDFC Bank, questioned Paytm's business model saying Paytm got customers by issuing cashbacks not by rendering services.
3. The IMF made a representation to finance ministry officials against the use of cryptocurrencies in India.
4. UPI transaction value crossed $1tn in FY2022.
5. CredAble, a working capital finance startup, claimed to have disbursed $3bn in loans to 100K SME's.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Google Pay partnered with Pine Labs to launch UPI Tap-and-Pay.
2. Mobikwik partnered with Chola MS General Insurance to launch two wheeler insurance.
3. Klub partnered with Cashfree Payments to provide revenue based finance to its 5K merchants.
4. CRED launched utility bill payments.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Amended the Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008 to reduce compliance and reporting requirements.
2. Both Houses of Parliament: Approved the 2022 Finance Bill which establishes a 30% tax on digital assets and a 1% TDS.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Vivriti Capital, a lender to mid-market businesses, raised $55mm.
2. Pine Labs, a payments company, raised $50mm.
3. Card91*, a card infrastructure startup, raised $13mm.
4. OneCode, a Fintech SaaS startup to distribute financial services, raised $13mm.
5. INDMoney, a wealth management startup, raised $11mm at $640mm valuation.
6. BridgeUp, a recurring revenue based finance startup, raised $1mm.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. IndiaMART, a B2B marketplace, acquired a 51% stake in Livekeeping, an accounting SaaS company, for $11.4mm.
2. Axis Bank acquired Citi Bank's consumer business in India for $1.6bn.
3. Bain Capital acquired a 25% stake in IIFL Wealth Management for $484mm.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. GCash, Ant-backed Philippine payment co., will launch crypto and stock trading on the app before launching its IPO.
2. Amartha, an Indonesian P2P lending company, is in talks to acquire 70% stake in a local bank - PT Bank Victoria Syariah.
3. Guangzhou in China joined Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen introduced a sandbox program to allows stock exchanges, and securities and futures companies to experiment with new technology initiatives in the city.
4. Vietnam's government is expected to introduce a legal framework for cryptocurrencies.
5. DBS Bank announced it will not offer crypto trading services to retail users.
6. Airwallex, the Hong Kong based cross border payments startup, launched its service for SME's in Malaysia.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Akros, a South Korean AI-driven asset management startup, raised $3.75mm.
2. JiPay, a Singaporean pre-paid wallet for migrant workers, raised $1.3mm.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. PACE, a Singaporean BNPL startup, acquired Rely, a Singaporean BNPL startup.

🌏 International

Please find our global coverage and consider subscribing.

• US and Global, written by Nik Milanovic published on Friday’s and Saturday’s.
• Europe and UK, written by Michael Jenkins published on Monday’s.
• Latin America, written by Christine Chang.
• Africa, written by Benjamin Dada.

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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