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).
🐦🏆 Tweets of the Week
(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)
📈 Chart of the Week
Mapping out the BIS-level network of global value chains lets us look at both direct and indirect supplier-to-customer linkages, providing a more complete & timely picture of the overall dependencies in global value chains. (Source)
🇮🇳 India
📰 Market Updates
Slice*, a consumer credit startup, received RBI approval to merge with North East Small Finance Bank.
Fintech fundingreportedly grew 68% YoY in the Jul-Sep-23 quarter, according to a report by Tracxn.
Groww, a wealth management startup, generated INR 1,294cr ($ 158mm) in total revenue in FY23 (ended Mar, 2023), growing 252% YoY with INR 73cr ($ 9mm) in net profit.
Cred, a lifestyle fintech startup, generated $168mm in revenue in FY23 (ended Mar, 2023), growing 255% YoY.
Swiggydisbursed INR 450cr ($54mm) in loans to its restaurant owners.
🚀 Product Launches
Pepper Moneylaunched Pepper Money Dreams Card, a Rupay prepaid card.
The central banks of India and UAEpartnered to launch RuPay card acceptance in UAE.
💰 Financing Announcements
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🌏 Asia
📰 Market Updates
UOB Bank in Singapore conducted trials of Copilot genAI for use across bank branches.
RedOne, a Malaysian virtual telco, partnered withExperian to launch RedCash, a digital lending platform.
The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) partnered withMAS, Singapore's central bank, and several other central banks to launch Project Mandala, a project to simplify cross border payments while embedding jurisdiction specific policy and regulatory requirements.
UBS Asset Managementlaunched its first pilot of a tokenised Variable Capital Company fund in Singapore.
Coinbase Singapore received a Major Payments Institution license from MAS, Singapore.
Total funding in Southeast Asian fintech startups fell by 74% YoY to $229mm in Q3 2023.
Singapore’s digital economy contributed $106bn, or 17.3%, to its GDP.
💰 Financing Announcements
ACQUISITIONS:
Mynt, owner of Philippine payments company GCash, acquired 77% stake in ECPay, a Philippine payments company, for $40.7mm.
🌏 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 [email protected]. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.
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