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).

Are you considering starting up? I’d love to help. DM me here: superdm.me/osborne

✨ Mumbai Fintech Happy Hour

I'm delighted to invite you to our Mumbai Fintech Happy Hour presented by Assurekit, Bureau and Mixpanel in partnership with Google Cloud and Mars Shot VC. Details below:

1. When: Tue, 07th Oct, 2025 at 6pm
2. Where: BKC, Mumbai

As always, we're excited to bring together some of the brightest minds in fintech for an informal gathering. This promises to be the best way to begin your fintech week on a high note!

🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. PhonePe, a digital payments platform, filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to raise INR 12,000cr ($ 1.3bn) through offer for sale with Walmart, Microsoft, and Tiger Global's stake dilution.
2. Digital gold transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) grew 377% from April 2024 to 100M transactions in August, with transaction value rising to INR 1,184cr ($134M), driven by rising gold prices and digital convenience.
3. Zerodha Fund House, partnering with Smallcase, grew Assets Under Management (AUM) to INR 8,000cr ($900M) as of Sep 2025, serving 700K investors through passive index funds and ETFs.
4. National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India expanded registered investor base to 120M, reflecting rapid market growth in FY25.
5. BharatPe, a small business payments and banking startup, grew revenue by 17% to INR 1,667cr ($188M) and reduced losses by 82% in FY24-25.
6. Galaxy Health Insurance targeted INR 450 crore ($51M) premium by FY26-27, collected INR 40 crore ($4.5M) in initial premiums, and planned breakeven within 4 years while expanding operations in West Bengal.
7. New to credit (NTC) loan originations dropped to 16% in Q1 FY26, decreasing from 20% in previous year, reflecting cautious lending approach in Indian financial market, according to Transunion CIBIL.
8. Public and private sector banks in India proposed a common digital portal to enhance monitoring and information sharing for consortium loans, involving data tracking and collaborative oversight.
9. Prime Minister's Office reviewed regulatory changes to enable domestic audit firms to scale globally and compete with international Big Four firms.
10. Algoquant Fintech received registration from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as Depository Participant with Central Depository Services (India) Limited, enabling electronic securities services.
11. PhysicsWallah, an edtech platform, received Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) license to offer student loans and financial products, targeting INR 1,000-2,000 crore ($110-225M) annual disbursals.
12. Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) restricted HDFC Bank's Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch from onboarding new clients amid ongoing scrutiny related to Credit Suisse AT1 bonds controversy.
13. Flipkart invested INR 260cr ($30M) into its fintech arm Supermoney, expanding its digital finance presence and receiving an NBFC licence from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

🚀 Product Launches

1. Bank of Baroda partnered with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch eRUPI P2P digital voucher feature on bob इ-Pay UPI app, enabling personalised digital gifting from INR 1 to INR 10,000.
2. Cashfree Payments launched Apple Pay support for international cards, enabling Indian merchants to offer native checkout experiences in global markets like United States, United Kingdom, Canada, UAE, and Europe.
3. Jio Payments Bank launched 'Savings Pro', enabling customers to invest surplus funds up to INR 1,50,000 daily in low-risk overnight mutual funds with up to 6.5% interest rate.
4. IndiGo Airlines partnered with SBI Card to launch two co-branded credit card variants targeting frequent travellers, offering rewards within IndiGo's ecosystem and travel bookings.
5. Raise Financial Services, parent company of stock broker Dhan, launched Fuzz, an AI co-pilot for finance.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) explored technological mechanism to lock borrowers' mobile devices in cases of small-ticket loan defaults in Mumbai.
2. RBI mandated new authentication mechanisms for digital payment transactions, enabling additional authentication factors and risk-based checks by April 2026.
3. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released regulatory circular establishing framework for Social Stock Exchange.
4. RBI directed BNPL startup Simpl to stop payment operations after finding violations of Payments and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Gullak, a digital gold savings startup, raised INR 66cr ($7.5M).
2. Oolka, an AI-powered credit management startup, raised INR 62cr ($7M).
3. OnFinance AI, a regulatory compliance AI startup, raised INR 37cr ($4.2M).

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. EBANX introduced stablecoin payments, AI-powered fraud detection, and expanded into Philippines by integrating GCash and Maya e-wallets.
2. HSBC completed first cross-border US dollar tokenised deposit transfer between Hong Kong and Singapore with Ant International, expanding distributed ledger technology service across multiple markets.
3. HSBC launched second Quantum Centre of Excellence in Singapore, completed first empirical quantum computing test for bond trading with IBM, achieving 34% improvement in algorithmic trading.
4. DBS Private Bank's multi-family office platform attracted S$1 billion ($775M) from European, Indian, and Asian families, aiming to double assets by 2026.
5. Yuno, a payment orchestration platform, expanded regional headquarters to Singapore and launched operations in China, providing unified payment infrastructure across 195 countries.
6. WeLab in Hong Kong partnered with Google to develop AI-powered financial services, targeting 50M users by 2032 and projecting 42.5% efficiency gain in five years.
7. People's Bank of China (PBOC) opened digital yuan international operations centre in Shanghai, targeting cross-border digital payments and CBDC innovation.
8. Maya Bank partnered with Atome to provide $48M loan channelling initiative, expanding credit access for Filipino consumers.
9. Amber Premium, based in Singapore, launched institutional-grade digital asset management services targeting 179 publicly listed companies holding $110bn in Bitcoin.
10. SC Ventures partnered with Fujitsu to launch Project Quanta, a quantum computing platform targeting financial services applications like fraud detection and algorithmic trading.
11. Cloudflare introduced NET Dollar, a US dollar-backed stablecoin designed to enable instant, secure transactions for autonomous AI agents and developers.
12. Ant International launched AI SHIELD, a comprehensive security toolkit designed to mitigate risks in financial AI systems, targeting vulnerabilities and protecting against potential $57bn in annual AI-related incidents.
13. Alipay+ partnered with Mastercard to launch NFC overseas payments for Kakao Pay users across 150M merchant locations worldwide.
14. Coinbase partnered with StraitsX to launch XSGD stablecoin on Base network, enabling localised blockchain transactions and cross-border payments.
15. State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) introduced new anti-money laundering regulations requiring banks to report domestic transfers over VND 500M ($19M)and cross-border payments over $1,000, effective January 2026.
16. Australian Treasury proposed draft legislation mandating digital asset platforms obtain Financial Services License, with potential penalties up to 10% of annual turnover for non-compliance.
17. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued new guidelines for digital financial content creators and advertisers, mandating stricter oversight and responsible marketing practices.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Kilde, a private credit startup in Singapore, raised $1.5M.

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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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