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 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

India is home to 6,386 fintech companies. Of the total, 28% are into investment tech, 27% are in payments and 16% are in lending. (Source)

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. EarlySalary, an instant digital lending startup, claimed to cross INR 5,000 Cr ($675.68mm) in cumulative disbursements.
2. PineLabs has confidentially filed its application to raise $500mm at a valuation of $7bn via IPO in the US.
3. Rupeek, a gold-backed financing startup, claimed to disburse $1bn in gold loans a year.
4. Simpl, a BNPL startup, secured $1bn asset-based lending line to grow BNPL.
5. Tata Digital has set up an entity to launch a fintech marketplace.
6. Groww is expected to launch a digital credit product for its users.
7. Leverage Edu, a study abroad consulting startup, launched Leverage Finance, a fintech vertical for students. The vertical launched products of international money transfer and student loans.

🚀 Product Launches

1. PayU launched LazyCard, a prepaid card product backed by a rewarding line of credit.
2. Razorpay launched automated digital FIRC to simplify international payments for businesses.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Set up a fintech department to facilitate innovation and address its challenges.
2. SEBI (securities regulator): Released the framework to operationalise the Gold Exchange of India.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Refyne, an earned wage access startup, raised $82mm.
2. OneCard, a credit card startup, raised $75mm at $750mm valuation.
3. Rupeek, a gold-backed financing startup, raised $34mm.
4. Kaleidofin, a neobanking startup, raised $10mm.
5. Muvin, a teen-focused neobank, raised $3mm.
6. IppoPay, a payments startup, raised $2.1mm.
7. Clear, a tax filing startup, raised $2-3mm.
8. Bliv.club, an NFT derivative startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Binance is under investigation in Pakistan for an alleged scam that that duped several thousand investors of $100mm.
2. Apple plans to allow alternate payment options other than Apple Pay in South Korea in compliance with a law in the country.
3. Pakistan's government and central bank are planning to ban all cryptocurrencies in the country.
4. Airwallex, an Australian cross border business payments startup, launched its payment service in Singapore.
5. Citi Bank is selling it's consumer business in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to UOB Group.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. eFishery, an Indonesian financing and SaaS startup, raised $90mm.
2. Pluang, an Indonesian investment startup, raised $55mm.
3. KoinWorks, an Indonesian SMB finance startup, raised $43mm.
4. Web3Auth, a digital identity startup, raised $13mm.
5. Crowdo, an ESG financing startup, raised $5.9mm.
6. PayWatch, an Malaysian earned wage access startup, raised $5.3mm.
7. SoftSpace, a fintech infrastructure startup, raised $5mm.
8. EasyTransfer, a Chinese cross border payments startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

🌏 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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