Hi fintech friends,

If you celebrate, Happy Diwali to you and those close to you. This week had few updates in India because of Diwali but the rest of Asia didn’t stop.

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 or debt, I may be able to help - reach out to osborne@thisweekinfintech.com.

Want to be a This Week in Fintech - Asia Sponsor? Reach fintech founders, industry professionals and enthusiasts. Email me at sponsor@thisweekinfintech.com.

🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Banks accounting for 95% of cards in India claim to be compliant with RBI's recurring payments mandate.
2. Exly, a creator business management startup, claims to have 1mm registered users.
3. UPI transactions crossed $100bn in monthly transaction value in the month of Oct, 2021.
4. Delhi High Court issued notices to SBI Bank and RBI to respond to plea regarding discontinuing UPI from WazirX.
5. Bombay Stock Exchange partnered with HDFC Bank to promote SMB and Startup listing.
6. Tamil Nadu state government is planning to apply for a payment banking license.
7. Paytm CFO said the company may launch a cryptocurrency trading platform if regulation permits.
8. Paytm raised $1.1bn in anchor investment for its upcoming IPO from 122 investors.
9. Policybazaar's IPO was 17x oversubscribed on final day of its IPO.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. EpiFi, a consumer neo banking startup, raised $50mm.
2. Faze Technologies, a cricket NFT marketplace, raised $17.4mm.
3. Ruptok, an asset-backed (gold) finance startup, raised $2mm.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. 2C2P partnered with UnionPay to launch online payments authentication platform in Southeast Asia.
2. Cross-border payment platform Tranglo is expanding its services to Mongolia.
3. Standard Chartered partnered with Kredivo for BNPL launch in Indonesia.
4. Traveloka is doubling down on its fintech ambitions in anticipation for its IPO.
5. Currenxie, a Hong Kong based cross border payments startup, introduced virtual visa card for corporate clients.
6. Grab partnered with TripleA, a Singaporean crypto payments provider, to enable users in Singapore to invest in digital tokens through their GrabPay wallet.
7. Kakao Pay's stock price more than doubles in trading debut giving it ~$10bn market capitalisation.
8. Chinese central bank official claimed that 140mm people opened wallets for digital yuan as of Oct 2021 and used it for around $9.7bn in transactions.
9. Hong Kong's Faster Payment System (FPS), it's real time bank transfer system, claimed to average $669mm in daily transaction value.
10. OCBC Bank in Singapore launched instant gold and silver buying platform.
11. Google in South Korea opened up its payment system to third party payment gateways in order to comply with a new regulation.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Mynt, a Philippine fintech super app, raised $300mm at $2bn valuation (Philippine's first fintech unicorn)
2. Sandbox, a Hong Kong based NFT gaming startup, raised $93mm.
3. AscendEX, a Singaporean crypto trading startup, raised $50mm at $455mm valuation.
4. Multiplier, an employee on boarding and payouts startup, raised $13.2mm.
5. Zarya, a Pakistani B2B commerce startup, raised $1.7mm.
6. Trellis, a Pakistani housing finance startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

Acquisitions:

1. Hoolah, a Singaporean BNPL startup, was acquired by Shopback, a Singaporean shopping and rewards startup.
2. Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), a Thai bank, acquired 51% of Bitkub, a Thai cryptocurrency exchange, valuing the exchange at ~$1bn.

🌏 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, published on Friday’s.

🧐 Looking for context, deep dives and further insights?

Read the latest edition of Fintech Inside, also authored by me. New editions get published every Sunday at 9AM IST.

📜 Notable Nuggets

1. Big Hires, Big Money and a D.C. Blitz: A Bold Plan to Dominate Crypto
2. DAOs: Absorbing the Internet
3. Stripe’s investment activities stand out
4. A Twitter Troll's Take on the Future of Investing

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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