Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.

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).

🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

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

📈 Chart of the Week

Source: CapitalMind

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Apple and HDFC Bank's partnership for Apple's first credit card in India is shelved for now.
2. WazirX, a crypto trading startup, was hacked and 200+ assets totalling INR 2,000cr ($240mn) was stolen.
3. Digital loans will account for 5% of total retail loans in India by FY2028 from 2.5% in FY2024, according to a report.
4. Northern Arc Capital received SEBI approval to list its shares in the public markets.
5. Paytm reported INR 1,502cr ($179mn) in revenue (-34% QoQ) and INR 840cr ($100mn) loss in Q1 FY25.
6. India's fintech industry is expected to grow to $420bn in valuation by 2029, as per a report.
7. India's digital payment value is expected to double to $7tn by 2030.
8. On Finance partnered with NSE to integrate Gen AI workflows in NSE's internal tools.
9. CapitalMind, a wealth management company, reported that it's PMS arm manages INR 2,000cr ($240mn) in customer assets.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Updated its Master Directions on fraud risk management for non-banks.
2. SEBI (securities): Issued a warning to Paytm over related-party transactions with its payment banking entity. Proposed a new asset class for investment that's a hybrid combining features of MF plans and portfolio management services.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Seeds Fincap, a small business finance company, raised $8.5mn.
2. OmniCard, a business spend management startup, raised $3mn.
3. Multipl, a save now buy later startup, raised $1.5mn.
4. Perpetuity Capital, an EV financing startup, raised $840K.
5. Validus, a KRA provider for the capital markets, raised an undisclosed amount.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Tonik Bank, a digital bank in Philippines, reported USD 20mn in interest income in 2023.
2. GoTo launched Dira by GoTo, it's first AI product and the first Bahasa language AI assistant, on the payment app.
3. Dubai's DIFC and Indonesia's Nusantara Capital Authority signed an MoU to partner on growing the local financial ecosystems in both cities.
4. The central banks of South Korea and Indonesia signed a partnership to launch a cross border payments integration.
5. BigPay, AirAsia's payments platform, expanded to Thailand.
6. Haruko, a London based digital asset investment management startup, raised capital and expanded to Southeast Asia.
7. UOB Bank in Singapore partnered with Woori Card in South Korea to offer users rewards across both countries.
8. XTransfer, a Chinese cross border payments company, received MAS license to operate as a major payment institution.
9. Arta, a wealth management startup, received MAS approval to operate as a wealth platform.
10. StraitsX, a Singaporean stablecoin issuance startup, received MAS license to operate as a crypto payments platform.
11. MariBank, a Singaporean digital bank of Sea Group, reported $7.5mn in total income in 2023.
12. ANT International partnered with BNP Paribas to launch enhanced cross border payment solutions for European merchants and consumers.
13. Foreign capital in China's VC industry fell 60% YoY to $3.7bn in 2023, i.e. 10% of total foreign capital in 2021. This has led to an expansion of state-backed funds.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. PEXX, a Southeast Asian stablecoin-based money transfer startup, raised $4.5mn.
2. Jeff, a Vietnamese financial product marketplace, raised $2mn.
3. Wise AI, a Malaysian eKYC startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

ACQUISITION:

1. Allianz insurance group will be acquiring a 51% shareholding in Income Insurance in Singapore for $1.63bn.

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