Hi fintech friends, Osborne here!

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 edition covers news till Thur, 10th Aug, 2023.

Don’t forget to share with fellow fintech friends!

✨ Global Fintech Fest 2023

We're partnering with our friends at Payments Council of India to giveaway 5 passes to the Global Fintech Fest! Join us from September 5th to 7th at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India, for an unparalleled opportunity. Immerse yourself in three days of connection, discovery, and insight with 250+ Exhibitors, 850+ Global Speakers, and 20,000+ Delegates.

Be captivated by a prestigious lineup of speakers, including prominent figures like Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Shri Shaktikanta Das, and Shri Piyush Goyal, representing Ministers, Policy Makers, and Industry Leaders from around the world. Explore the theme, "Global collaboration for a responsible financial ecosystem. Inclusive. Resilient. Sustainable."

🐦🏆 Tweets of the Week

(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, increased his stake in Paytm by purchasing 10.3% shareholding from Alibaba valued at $628mm.
2. Enkash, a corporate spend management starutp, reportedly expects to close FY24 (ending March, 2024) at $30mm in revenue, from $22mm in FY23.
3. India Shelter Finance, an affordable housing finance company, received SEBI approval to list its shares via IPO to raise INR 1,800cr ($220mm).
4. PB Fintech, the listed parent entity of PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar, reported INR 11.41crs ($1.4mm) in consolidated net loss for Q1 FY24.
5. SEBI reported that it is working on a "Mutual Fund Lite" model with easier compliance for ETF's and other passive investments for certain segments of investors.
6. India's lower and upper parliament houses approved India's Digital Personal Data Protection bill. President's approval is pending.
7. Mobikwik, a payments company, reported its first consolidated profit of $365K (INR 3cr) in the Jun, 2023 quarter.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Mastercard launched a CVC-less card payments platform.
2. Tata Capital, the financial arm of Tata Group, launched TIA, a chatbot integrated with generative AI.
3. Airtel Payments Bank launched an eco-friendly debit card.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. SEBI (securities): Released its Annual Report for FY23 (ended March, 2023). Approved listing timeline to 3 days (from 6 days) post IPO.
2. RBI (central bank): Proposed NFC based payments via UPI-lite, on device wallets.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Credgenics, a debt recovery startup, raised $50mm.
2. StableMoney, a fixed income investment startup, raised $5mm.
3. ZestMoney, a BNPL startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. Svatantra Microfin, a microfinance company, is acquiring Chaitanya India Fin, a microfinance subsidiary of Navi Group, for INR 1,479cr ($180mm).

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Apple launched Apple Pay in Vietnam.
2. According to a report by GlobalData, alternative payments (wallets, mobile payments) accounted for ~40% of digital commerce transactions in Singapore.
3. TikTok is reportedly in talks with local regulators to obtain an Indonesian payments license.
4. Digido, a Philippine consumer credit company, predicted that fintech adoption in the country will grow to 72% or 59.3mm users by end of 2023.
5. MAS, Singapore's central bank, committed SGD 150mm over three years to boost financial innovation in the country.
6. Tookitaki, a Singaporean anti money laundering startup, launched Compliance-as-a-Service product.
7. Singapore reportedly accounts for 50% of investment in fintech in Southeast Asia.
8. UnionPay, a Chinese card network, and Payments Network, a Malaysia payments platform, signed an agreement to promote cross border QR integration between China and Malaysia.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Endowus, a Singaporean wealth management startup, raised $35mm.
2. BondEvalue, a Singaporean bond marketplace startup, raised $10mm.
3. GORO, an Indonesian fractional real estate marketplace startup, raised $1mm.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. FOMO Group, a Singaporean payment acceptance startup for small businesses, acquired CapBridge, a capital markets and asset custody company, and 1exchange, a private securities exchange company.

🌏 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.

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