Indian Fintech startups raised $1.2bn in Q1 2023 and Sea Bank reported net profit of $18mm | 15th April, 2023

PayNearbyclaimed to have opened 100K current and savings bank accounts in the six months ended Mar-23.

Flexiloans, an SME lending startup, claimed to manage an AuM of INR 1,000cr ($122mm) in 70,000 loans with INR 3,400cr ($414mm) in total disbursements till FY23 (ended Mar-23).

UGro Capital, a small business lending company, said that it will raise $41.4mm in equity capital.

CreditFair, a retail lending startup, announced that it will use CredGenics to streamline its debt collections.

Indian startups raised $2.8bn in Q1 2023, a 75% YoY drop from the $11.9bn in Q1 2022. Fintech startups raised $1.2bn during the same period.

Non-life insurance companiesare planning to launch a platform to onboard hospitals and manage cashless claims settlement while keeping fraud in check.

Razorpayhelped 80 startups remit back INR 60cr ($7.3mm) over 10 days post the SVB collapse.

IRDAI, the insurance regulator, claimed that it is in process of reviewing 20 applications for various manufacturing licenses.

BankBazaar, a lending product marketplace company, said it will apply for IPO in the next 16-18 months and reported INR 160cr ($19.6mm) in net revenue in FY23 (ending Mar-2023).

EbixCash, a remittance and financial services company, received SEBI approval to list its shares.

Mutual Fund industry AuM for FY23 (ended Mar 2023) grew 7% YoY from $460bn to $490bn

RBIscrapped its plans to introduce New Umbrella Entity for payments.

Zerodha announced partnering with Smallcase to launch its mutual fund business.

Venlo, a domestic UPI payments app for non-Indians, launched its app.

ICICI Banklaunched a credit on UPI product.

Bajaj Markets, a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv, partnered withVested, a global stock investing startup, to launch US stock investing for Bajaj's customers.

RBI (central bank): Approved easier application norms for Core Investment Companies (CIC). Released guidelines restricting lenders from blending penal charges on loans with the principal and interest charges.

SEBI (securities): Asked mutual funds to introduce "direct plans" and trail model for distribution commission.

IRDAI (insurance): Approved the life insurance license application of Credit Access Grameen.

PhonePeraised $100mm at a $12bn valuation.

GenWise, a financial services and content platform for seniors, raised $3.5mm.

CreditAccess, a non-bank microfinance company, raised $20mm in debt.

OfBusiness acquiredKoeleman India, a food processing and exports company.

Australia's central bank cancelled Binance' financial services license

The Payment & Clearing Association of China warned that technology like ChatGPT could pose “risks such as cross-border data leaks”.

Sea Bank, an Indonesian digital banking subsidiary of Singaporean Sea Group, reported net profit of $18mm for FY2022 (ended Dec-2022) compared to $21mm in FY2021.

Tiger Brokers, a Chinese stock trading company, launched TigerGPT, an AI investment assistant.

ZA Bank of Hong Kong announced its plans to become the go-to bank for the Web3 ecosystem.

KoinWorksreportedly shut its student financing product.

Airwallexconducted a study on Southeast Asian small businesses that revealed 7 in 10 small businesses are bracing for a potential recession within the next two years.

Thunesreceived a license in France to operate cross border payments.

Soft Space, a Malaysian fintech infra startup, raised $31.5mm.

Alchemy Pay, a Singaporean crypto/fiat payments co, raised $10mm at $400mm valuation.

BetterTradeOff, a financial planning SaaS startup, raised an undisclosed amount.