Stripe goes invite-only in India | TWIF 02-06-2024

Stripeannounced that it will temporarily move to an invite-only model for new account sign ups in India, citing regulatory changes.

As per RBI, bank fraud casesgrew 165% YoY to 36,075 in FY24; credit card and online frauds increased 425% YoY to INR 1,457cr ($175mm); Total frauds reported in FY24 declined by 47% YoY to INR 13,930cr ($1.7bn).

Unclaimed deposits with banks grew 26% YoY to INR 78213cr ($9.4bn) in FY24.

IIFL Securitieswill launch a HNI and UHNI wealth management platform.

Oxyzoreported revenue of INR 903cr ($108mm) and INR 291cr ($35mm) of PAT in FY24.

BharatPe and PhonePesettled out of court on a trademark case over the Pe suffix.

Paytmwithdrew its general insurance license application and will focus on distribution-only model.

PhonePelaunched secured lending products marketplace with 15 lending partners.

JiolaunchedJioFinance, an app for UPI payments, loans and insurance products.

Google Walletpartnered withPine Labs to launch gift card management for its users.

Airpaypartnered withWix to launch payment acceptance for Wix' India users.

RazorpaylaunchedQ-Zap, an offline payment acceptance platform.

IRDAI (insurance): Introduced several amendments to health insurance products, including having to process cashless health insurance claims within 1 hour (excellent summary here).

RBI (central bank): Introduced guidelines for the establishment of self regulatory organisations (SRO's). Launched 3 platforms 1) PRAVAAH - a platform for regulatory application, validation and authorisation; 2) a retail direct mobile app to invest in G-Secs; and 3) a fintech repository. Released its Annual Report for FY24.

Turno, an EV financing startup, raised $6mm.

Vegapay, a lending infrastructure startup, raised $5.5mm.

Wealthy*, a wealth management startup, raised $5.4mm.

Coversure, an insurance marketplace, raised $4mm.

AbleCredit, an AI-based underwriting startup for small business, raised $1.5mm.

CirclePe, a rental property financing startup, raised $1mm.

Gravity, a banking infra and SaaS startup, raised $1mm.

BharatX, a lending infrastructure startup, acquiredZenifi, a healthcare financing startup.

SeABank in Vietnam partnered withVisa to launch digital payment acceptance in the country.

Aspire, a Southeast Asian digital bank for businesses, launched its services in Hong Kong and received license in the country to operate as a Money Service Operator.

XTransfer, a Chinese B2B cross border payments company, partnered withTerrapay, a Singaporean cross border payments company to expand its payment acceptance capabilities.

Julo, an Indonesian personal finance startup, announced that it provided insurance products to 200K users within 3 months of its partnership with Qoala.

Triple-A, a crypto payment gateway, enabled PayPal USD (PYUSD), on its gateway.

Tonik Bank in Philippines partnered with OpenAI to launch ChatGPT based customer service features on the app.

Bursa Malaysia, a Malaysian stock exchange, launchedAPI Gateway for brokers and participating organisations to integrate investor account management processes.

DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese crypto exchange, said it lost 4,503 bitcoin worth $308mm in an unauthorised leak.

Beppo, a Philippine accounting automation startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

BeppoacquiredJuanTax and five other accounting firms in Philippines.