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).

Note: This week’s digest includes news up to Thurs, 17th Nov, 2022.

Don’t forget to share with fellow fintech friends!

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.

Want to be a This Week in Fintech - Asia Sponsor? Email me at sponsor@thisweekinfintech.com or see our sponsorship information here.

🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Open received an in-principle approval for its payment aggregator license.
2. RBI shortlisted SBI Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDFC First Bank to be part of RBI's retail CBDC pilot.
3. RBI approved nine Indian banks to open "vostro" accounts, to facilitate trade in rupees.
4. HDFC Capital launched H@ART, Housing and Affordable Real Estate and Technology, fund to invest in 15 startups.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Actvy.AI, a B2B supply chain management startup, partnered with mSwipe, a payments company, to launch better payments solutions for merchants.
2. Google Play launched UPI Auto Pay features for subscription based apps.
3. KaleidoFin, a fintech startup for under-banked users, partnered with SBM Bank to launch Ki Cash a digital banking account product.

📝 Regulatory Updates

• SEBI (securities): Released a new regulatory framework for online bond platforms.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Lentra, a banking and lending SaaS startup, raised $60mm.
2. Aye Finance, a small business lending startup, raised $10.6mm in debt.

Note: $1 = INR 82

1-min Anonymous Feedback: Your feedback helps me improve this newsletter. Click UPVOTE 👍🏽 or DOWNVOTE 👎🏽

🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. MAS partnered with New York's Fed to explore wholesale CBDC's.
2. BigPay, the fintech arm of Air Asia group, crossed RM 1bn ($218mm) in gross throughput.
3. Visa partnered with Google in Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand to launch Google Wallet storage and payment features for Hong Leong bank and other banks' customers.
4. TripleA, a crypto payments company, partnered with Bigo, a live streaming platform, to launch crypto payment acceptance in-stream.
5. Funding Societies partnered with Proton to provide dealer financing for used car dealers.
6. Tranglo, a Malaysian cross border payments startup, launched its payments platform.
7. OJK, Indonesia's financial regulator, announced a regulation for banks to invest in fintech startups.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Privy, an Indonesian digital KYC startup, raised $48mm.
2. ADDX, a Singaporean private market exchange, raised $20mm.
3. SmartNet, a Vietnamese payments company, raised $9.3mm.
4. Rootopia, a Vietnamese education-based fintech startup, raised $1mm.

ACQUISITION:

1. Opn, a Japanese payments company, acquired MerchantE, a US-based payments company, for $357mm to launch payments operations in US.

🌏 International

Please find our global coverage and consider subscribing.

• US and Global, written by Nik Milanovic.
• Europe and UK, written by Michael Jenkins.
• Latin America, written by Christine Chang.
• Africa, written by Emeka Ajene.
• China written by Ning Ye.
• Policy written by Mohammad Hamdy.

And of course, our podcast series - Beyond Two Percent and Hey Fintech Friends.

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.

1-min Anonymous Feedback: Your feedback helps me improve this newsletter. Click UPVOTE 👍🏽 or DOWNVOTE 👎🏽

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn.