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

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🔝Top Story of the Week

Pine Labs filed its draft IPO prospectus

Pine Labs finally hit “send” on its DRHP, aiming to raise INR 2,600cr ($305M) via a fresh issue while early investors—including Peak XV, Actis, PayPal and Mastercard—plan to off-load ~148M shares in the offer for sale.

The merchant payments company runs 1.4M in-store digital checkout points, processing INR 5.7tn ($67bn) GTV in FY24 and ₹7.15 trn ($84bn) in the nine months to Dec-24 . FY24 revenue came in at INR 1,341cr ($157M) across its twin engines—an omnichannel payments stack and the country’s largest prepaid / gift-card issuing platform—serving 910K merchants across India and SE Asia.

In the first nine months of FY25 till Dec, 2024, Pine Labs generated 71% of its revenue from its Digital Infrastructure and Transaction Platform. The remaining 29% came from its Issuing and Acquiring Platform.

According to research firm RedSeer, Pine Labs as India’s #1 digital affordability enabler and largest closed-loop gift-card processor.

🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. Pine Labs, an Indian payments company, filed its draft IPO prospectus to raise INR 2,600cr (USD 305M).
2. Progcap, a SME finance startup, aims to reach INR 3,000cr ($350M) AUM and INR 5,200cr ($601M) loan sanction by the end of FY26, up 50% and 44% YoY respectively.
3. TransUnion CIBIL reported retail credit growth slowed to 5% YoY in Q4 FY25, down from 12% a year ago, despite the RBI cutting rates by 25 basis points to 6.25%.
4. Micro, small and medium business credit market in India expanded by 25% to INR 40 lakh cr ($468bn), driven by policy support, digitalisation, and financial inclusion push according to CRIF High Mark report.
5. Aditya Birla Capital's digital app ABCD was hacked, resulting in theft of digital gold worth INR 2cr (USD 233K) from 435 customer accounts.
6. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) reported INR 1,500cr ($175M) net profit, growing 42% YoY, and INR 3,000cr ($351M) revenue in FY25.
7. Indian banks reported improved asset quality, capital buffers and profitability in FY25, with public sector banks' cumulative net profit rising 26% YoY to a record INR 1.78 lakh crore ($21bn).
8. PayU India's overall revenues increased by 24% to $669M in FY25, while adjusted EBIT deteriorated slightly to -7% as compared to -5.8% in the previous year. Adjusted EBIT loss increased by 38% to $44M in FY25 from $32M in FY24.

🚀 Product Launches

1. PhonePe partnered with HDFC Bank to launch 'PhonePe HDFC Bank Co-branded Credit Card', integrated with UPI and offering rewards.
2. Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited (SMFCL), India's first maritime Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC), launched with INR 680cr ($78M) in financing capital.
3. Razorpay partnered with Mastercard, YES Bank & RBL Bank to launch RazorpayX Corporate Cards, offering credit limits up to INR 2cr (USD 231K) with zero collateral.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued draft directions to enhance robustness of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS), mandating due diligence of touchpoint operators by acquiring banks, effective in three months.
2. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) roped in public and private sector banks to develop Digital Payment Intelligence Platform (DPIP) to curb digital payment frauds, which surged nearly 3x to INR 36,014cr ($4.2bn) in FY25.
3. National Housing Bank (NHB) mandated stricter guidelines for refinancing home loans in under-construction properties, allowing refinance only if less than half the construction is complete at first disbursement, impacting INR 6.25lakh cr ($73bn) of outstanding home loans by Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) as of September 2024.
4. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered priority sector lending target for Small Finance Banks (SFBs) to 60%, freeing up INR 41,000cr ($4.8bn) for lending to low-risk segments like housing.
5. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) initiated comprehensive review of mutual fund regulations to simplify norms and promote industry growth, as mutual fund assets under management (AUM) reached INR 72 lakh crore ($842bn) in India.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. GoKwik, an Ecommerce checkout SaaS startup, raised $13M (INR 111cr).
2. Sahi, a stock trading platform, raised INR 91cr ($10.5M).
3. Pazy, an integrated business-payments platform, raised INR 6cr ($700K).

ACQUISITION:

1. Zerodha co-founders acquired a minority stake in InCred Holdings worth INR 250cr ($29M).

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. KakaoPay, a South Korean payments company, filed 18 trademarks related to a potential Korean won-backed stablecoin, causing its stock price to surge over 200% in a month.
2. ROSHI, a Singapore-based fintech, released a report analysing credit card debt levels across Southeast Asia, revealing an average balance of $5,335 in Singapore, equivalent to 86% of average monthly income.
3. KB Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest bank, filed trademark applications for KBKRW and KRWST stablecoins pegged to the Korean won, signalling growing institutional interest in blockchain-based finance in Asia.
4. AsiaPay partnered with the Soup Spoon Singapore to launch mobile payment integration for restaurants.
5. PingPong, a Chinese cross-border payment company, partnered with Form3 to implement SEPA Verification of Payee (VoP) solution.
6. DTCpay, a Singapore-based digital payments solutions provider, partnered with Mastercard Move to launch enhanced speed, security, and transparency for cross-border transactions.
7. Funding Societies, Southeast Asia's largest SME digital finance platform, partnered with Bukku, Malaysia's cloud-based accounting platform, to offer instant SME financing qualification, facilitating MYR 1M ($240K) in financing.
8. Brankas, a Singapore-based digital banking infrastructure startup, partnered with Gimasys, a Vietnamese digital transformation solutions provider, to launch a comprehensive Open Banking solution to Vietnam's banking and finance industry.
9. Airwallex partnered with Juspay to integrate its global payments infrastructure into the Juspay platform, enabling businesses to accept payments in 130+ currencies and reduce FX fees and chargebacks.
10. Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought public input on proposed changes to criteria for selecting digital assets offered on local exchanges, aiming to align regulations with evolving digital asset landscape while preserving investor protection.
11. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) incorporated Singapore Payments Network (SPaN), a not-for-profit company, to oversee governance of national payment schemes.
12. Seedflex Technologies, a Singapore-based fintech firm, received license from Indonesia's Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) as a provider and aggregator of financial products and services.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Lana, a Singapore-based decarbonisation finance platform, raised an undisclosed amount.

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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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