Hi fintech friends,

Hope you had a great start to the new year!

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.

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🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week

📊 Stat of the week

Indian fintech startups raised $9bn in funding in 2021. (Source)

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Fino Payments Bank received approval to launch its international remittance business under the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS).
2. PhonePe crossed 350mm registered users milestone.
3. PayU's SMB payments business grew 70% YoY in 2021.
4. Strata, a fractional investing startup, crossed INR 500 cr ($66.7mm) in AuM.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Flint, a crypto-based investment startup, launched it's product.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Released a framework for Small Value Digital payments in offline mode. Introduced guidelines allowing fintech startups to access credit bureau data.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. RupiFi, a SMB finance infrastructure startup, raised $25mm.
2. PineLabs, a payments processing company, raised $20mm.
3. CASHe, an instant lending startup, raised $18.7mm.
4. SAVEIn, a BNPL startup for healthcare, raised an undisclosed amount.
5. Groww, a investment startup, raised an undisclosed amount from Satya Nadella.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. The State Bank of Pakistan (Pakistan's central bank) released a framework to grant licenses for full digital banks in Pakistan.
2. Cambodia's digital currency reached nearly half the population in 2021.
3. South Korea's ruling party announced an NFT presidential election fundraiser.
4. Bukalapak, an Indonesian commerce company, is expected to participate in the rights issue of Allo Bank, an Indonesian digital bank.
5. Revolut received approval from the MAS to provide clients with gold and silver exposure via its app.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Sygnum, a Swiss and Singaporean digital-asset bank, raised $88mm at $800mm valuation.
2. Spenmo, a Singaporean payables management startup, raised $85.4mm.
3. Timo, a Vietnamese digital bank, raised $20mm.
4. Brankas, a fintech infrastructure startup, raised $20mm.
5. Olsera, an Indonesian POS payments startup, raised $2.5mm.
6. Anfin, a Vietnamese stock trading startup, raised $1.2mm.

ACQUISITION:

1. ASEAN Fintech Group, a Singaporean Fintech VC fund, acquired JazzyPay, a Philippine payments provider for $1.8mm.

🌏 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.

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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